


I Feel the Light

by lk321



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Quirks (My Hero Academia), Background Character Death, Drama, Eventual Romance, Gen, Han Jisung | Han-centric, M/M, Mentioned Other K-pop Artist(s), Minor Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Minor Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, it's not really the focus though sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 90,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22672300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lk321/pseuds/lk321
Summary: Han Jisung spends his days working as a simple hero, wondering if he’ll ever get his shot at glory. All this changes when by chance he defeats Lee Minho, a disgraced hero turned villain with a destructive wind quirk. Assigned to watch over Minho, who is given one chance at redemption, Jisung finds himself pulled along by the whimsical pace of Minho’s life, straight into the clutches of danger and excitement. Tensions are rising in Seoul as villain activity grows frequent, and, together, Jisung and Minho must fight to discover the villains responsible for Minho’s fall from grace and restore peace once and for all.My Hero Academia AU, but it’s just Stray Kids working as heroes with quirks.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix
Comments: 48
Kudos: 250





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first time writing fanfic for Stray Kids, so I wanted to write a My Hero Academia AU where everyone has a quirk (superpower) and is working as a hero. I'll try to update consistently, and I hope you enjoy!

Lee Minho winces as he steps outside, bringing a hand up to shade his eyes from the sweltering sun. He barely registers the squeals of fangirls as he heads out on his daily patrol, his mind still in a haze. He spent too long last night trying to perfect a new choreography, and now he would give anything to spend a few more hours, asleep in a comfortable bed in an air conditioned room. 

Minho shakes his head, finally acknowledging the fangirls and kindly reminding them to stay hydrated. He laughs when one of the girls mimes fainting before he goes off to do his rounds about the city. Just another day of protecting the city, he thinks. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It’s turning out to be one of the hottest summers yet, as if the weather itself has been spurred on by the excitement of the past few months. It’s been exactly 3 months and 25 days since the most prominent villain of the decade was brought to his knees singlehandedly by a hero barely out of high school. The public is still buzzing with excitement about the news, all eyes turned in admiration to the hero responsible for capturing the villain who had brought so much misery and destruction upon the people. 

Even for Minho, who grew up loving the spotlight, it’s a lot to get used to.

The endless interviews, the paparazzi, the stares of awe that follow him wherever he goes, especially when he’s in uniform. Minho has spent the last few months practicing his patient smile and building his image. He still startles when he sees his image plastered on billboards and wells up with pride when he see his hero name in the news. The Wind of Hope, Levanter, the newcomer hero with wind by his side as he fights his way to victory. The media has predicted that he’ll be the leader of the new generation, maybe even surpass the current number one hero, though Minho doubts anyone would be capable of taking such a title away from the ever so beloved Bang Chan. 

If anything, Minho’s just glad that the people are happy. They cheer when he arrives to face a villain, confident that he’ll win and shower him with praise when he puts on a good show. It makes him happy to know that the people believe in him, and he’ll do anything to protect those smiles.

He’s waving to an old lady, who he’s just helped cross the street when someone bumps into him. 

“I’m so sorry!” the person hastily apologizes, bowing deep. Minho just smiles down at the man, though his brow furrows slightly in confusion. The man’s covered from head to toe in a sweatshirt and pants, a face mask over his nose and mouth, and his eyes hidden from the shadow of his hood. 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s hot outside, so be careful ok?” Minho says, patting the man on the shoulder. 

The man looks up. Minho blinks back at the sharp glint of violet in his eyes before they curve up in a smile. He bows again to Minho and says, “Thank you, but I’ll be ok. You should take care too, Levanter. Everyone would be devastated if anything were to happen to our favorite hero.”

The man hurriedly shuffles away before Minho can say anything in response. He scrunches his nose and scratches his head, but his attention is quickly distracted by a child calling out to him, crying about a cat stuck in a tree. The encounter fades to the back of his mind, just another faceless citizen.

Thinking back on it, Minho realizes he ought to have noticed the growing discomfort in his side, and the way his quirk spirals just a little out of control when he tries to save the cat.


	2. Levanter, the Fallen Hero

Han Jisung hates patrol duty.

He always has, and he doubts that will ever change in the future.

Patrol duty means interacting with the people. It means putting on a smiling face and pretending to be able to communicate with them for minutes and hours at a time.

Jisung doesn’t even know how he manages to chat for more than a few seconds.

It’s not that he dislikes people. Well, he does, sometimes, but that’s beyond the point. He loves helping them plenty, adores seeing the smiles of young children and hearing words of thanks for all the people he’s helped, but Jisung isn’t a people person. He’d rather be back in the hero agency, lounging on the chairs, waiting for news of a villain he can go fight rather than pointlessly chat with civilians who were always way too eager to come talk to him.

But Chan had asked if Jisung could take on patrol duty with a beaming smile, waving to the mountains of paperwork that he and Changbin still need to complete, so here Jisung is, doing his best to smile and be the friendliest version of himself that he can be.

Jisung is walking alongside a row of apartment houses when he catches sight of what he guesses is just the first trouble of his day.

On the balcony of a third-floor apartment, a group of kids is playing hero, dressed up and shouting loudly enough for Jisung to be able to hear them. One kid leaps onto the concrete balcony ledge and shouting about how he’ll lead his friends to victory to defeat the evil villain. Jisung sighs, already making his way through the crowd that looks on worriedly, as if they’re all scared of the inevitable chance that the child will totter too far back and fall right off the balcony. Honestly, just where were this kid’s parents?

No one has called out to the child yet, perhaps all afraid they’d startle him. The boy in question is still deeply immersed in his theatrics and clearly has his friends spellbound too. There’s a murmuring of relief in the crowd when they see Jisung approach in his hero costume, a fact that makes Jisung feel quite proud despite the situation. He purses his lip and decides to just go for it, confident that even if the child does startle and fall, Jisung will be more than capable of catching him.

He calls out, “Hey, kid, maybe you should get off the—”

The balcony ledge shatters with a loud crack.

There’s a second when the child is suspended in mid air, as Jisung’s breath catches in his throat. It’s silent as crumbling blocks of concrete that once was the balcony start to fall.

Suddenly, the child screams as he falls, and everyone panics. Jisung swears under his breath and surges forward, leveraging his weight to climb onto some unsuspecting civilians and leaping into the air. Just in time, he grabs onto the child midair and pulls the boy in tight as Jisung lands solidly on his two feet.

The crowd erupts into cheers. The child is still in shock, but once Jisung scolds him harshly for playing on top of the balcony edge, the child bursts into tears and wraps his tiny arms around the young hero, apologizing and promising to be careful from now on. Jisung just smiles and gently pats the child’s head, but his eyes are on the debris that has fallen down with the child.

It’s no accident that the balcony ledge would’ve so suddenly collapsed. He remembers the loud crack it had made, like something had slammed into it so hard the ledge had simply shattered from the force.

He catches a figure trying to turn away from the crowd, cloaked in all black. He’s just managed to get the child to stop hugging him when a bystander in the crowd points at the figure that’s trying to retreat, crying out, “That’s the person who tried to make the kid fall! I saw him reach his hand out and summon some kind of wind that attacked the balcony!”

The figure freezes. Then, as Jisung takes a step forward, all hell breaks loose.

The man spins around, shoving people out of the way before taking a surging leap towards the sky. Jisung doesn’t have the time to marvel at the way the figure takes flight to the air. He runs after the cloaked figure, shouting at people to get out of his way, his eyes pinned to the person who begins to fall back towards the earth just as quickly as he took flight.

“Stop right there!” Jisung shouts, leaping towards the cloaked figure just as he touches back down on the ground. The figure dodges nimbly out of the way with the grace of a dancer, pivoting on one foot and hastily stepping backwards. The force of the spin knocks the figure’s hood clean off his head.

Jisung stares.

It’s a face he knows well, commonly seen broadcasted on the news and plastered onto rows of wanted posters. Jisung has never bothered to give that face more than a passing glance. Whatever it looked like, in the end, it had just been nothing more than another face of another villain.

Standing in front of Levanter, disgraced hero and currently most wanted villain, Jisung decides that the pictures haven’t done him justice. In his entire life, Jisung doesn’t think he’s ever seen another man look so beautiful, yet so haggard.

The man’s face is sharp like in the pictures, with piercing brown eyes and a perfectly chiseled jawline. The bridge of his nose is straight and sharp, and his skin glows pale underneath the afternoon sun. He’s beautiful, and yet he has deep eye bags and tousled brown hair. His skin has lost its luster, his cheeks slightly sunken in, and there’s an emotion in the man’s eyes that Jisung can’t quite place, like his sanity is a taut string about to snap.

In all honesty, for a man who was once hailed as the most promising hero of the new generation, Levanter seems to have fallen quite far.

The villain tries to escape again, but Jisung doesn’t let him. He closes the gap just as quickly, declaring, “I won’t let you escape that easily, Levanter!”

It earns him a scowl. Levanter sounds bitter as he snaps, “Don’t call me that.”

Again, the villain turns, looking like he’s trying to twist off the ground for some momentum to launch himself back into the air. Jisung leaps forward, but Levanter dodges just as easily and taunts, “You really think I’m going to let myself be caught by some newbie hero who doesn’t know how to fight?”

“I’m no newbie, and I know how to fight,” Jisung snaps, rushing at Levanter again only for the villain to sidestep around him and land a solid kick to his back. Jisung stumbles forward but doesn’t fall, spinning around to keep the villain close within reach.

Levanter smirks back, a twinkle to his eyes that’s mocking Jisung. He sneers, “I know who you are, J.One, and if this is your idea of fighting, Channie clearly hasn’t taught you well.”

“I’m only just getting warmed up,” Jisung says, gritting his teeth. Levanter is just barely within his reach, but the former hero is too nimble for Jisung to get a proper grip on. Even worse, Jisung knows it’s only a matter of time before Levanter unleashes his deadly quirk, making Jisung wary of getting caught by the blast of wind that he’s heard is Levanter’s signature move.

However, the longer Jisung tries and fails to corner Levanter, the more something becomes fatally obvious.

Levanter isn’t using his quirk.

Whether it’s because he’s trying to escape, or because he doesn’t think Jisung is worth it, Levanter’s well-known wind quirk is strangely absent. Jisung’s heard of its terrible ability to cause destruction, and he knows here, surrounded by a crowd of wide-eyed onlookers who have given him and Levanter the space to fight, would be the best place of all to unleash a devastating attack.

Jisung lunges for Levanter once more. Still no quirk. No gallant wind bursting towards him, no whirlwind howling with rage towards the crowd. Just another attempt to run as Levanter dips and twirls around Jisung’s every leap and punch. He’s literally dancing around Jisung now, and if he weren’t such a wanted villain, Jisung might’ve even stopped to compliment his technique.

Jisung grits his teeth together and decides to throw all caution to the wind. He takes a running start and swings back with his right fist.

Levanter predicts his move, briefly redirecting Jisung’s fist away from his body, but this time, Jisung is prepared. He reaches out and grabs Levanter’s wrist as the villain knocks away his right arm.

Levanter’s eyes go wide with panic, but it’s too late. Jisung’s eyes glow red. He can feel the prickling nerves in Levanter’s hands, feels his mind tracing each nerve, each cell, coursing through Levanter’s body until he can feel it start going numb.

Suddenly, as he follows the flow of energy through Levanter’s body, his mind halts to a stop somewhere near Levanter’s midriff before quickly finding a new way, a different way around something that was blocking his quirk’s ability to trace through a person’s bloodstream. Jisung frowns. He wants to go back and figure out what that energy block was, but he’s running out of time. Any moment, Levanter might try to wrench his arm out of Jisung’s grasp, and he has just seconds before his takeover will be complete and he can knock this villain unconscious once and for all.

Jisung glances up at Levanter. Just as he feels the last of Levanter’s nerves seize up and slow the blood flow to his brain, Jisung is baffled when he sees something that looks like relief flood Levanter’s face, completely replacing the tense panic that had overcome the villain when he was first grabbed.

Without wrenching his arm from Jisung’s grasp, Levanter reaches out a second hand and places it over the hand Jisung had on his wrist. He feels Levanter squeeze his hand tightly, his eyes softening around the edges before Levanter’s eyes roll back, no longer conscious.

Jisung breathes heavily, hearing nothing of the cheers that erupt the moment Levanter falls. He sees only those brown eyes, bloodshot yet wide with relief, as if the young man known as Levanter had just awoken from the darkest of nightmares and finally opened his eyes.

* * *

Jisung isn’t sure why Levanter is being brought back to the 3RACHA Hero Agency instead of to the police station. There’s a look he can’t decipher in Chan’s eyes when he arrives at the scene, though the shock when he sees Levanter is undeniable. He doesn’t know what Chan manages to tell the police, but after about half an hour of arguing, Chan picks up Levanter’s unconscious body and throws him over his shoulder like a rag doll.

“Come on, J.One. We should head back,” is all Chan says before walking off like it’s completely normal to be carrying an unconscious villain through the streets. Jisung pouts, grumpily following along. They turn down the street, where there’s less people. Jisung’s about to huff his dissatisfaction when Chan reaches out and ruffles his hair affectionately. “Sorry, there were too many people gawking back there, but you did a good job knocking Levanter unconscious without creating any casualties.”

Jisung grins, unable to stop the feeling of pride spreading through his body. “You’re talking about me, after all. Of course I’d do an amazing job.”

“I said you did a good job,” Chan cheekily replies. “I’m surprised you managed to find this guy at all though.”

Jisung thinks back to the events that had just occurred. Something’s still bothering him about his quick and uneventful fight. Too many things in fact. From so accidentally encountering the villain that no hero had managed to track down in four years, to how Levanter hadn’t used his quirk in their fight, only in an attempt to escape. Of course, his scattered mind chooses to focus in on a different but tiny detail.

“He mentioned you in our fight,” Jisung blurts out, as if just processing what had occurred. “He called you Channie, and you fought with those policemen to take Levanter into custody too. Is he someone you know?”

Chan looks stunned. His eyes dart towards Levanter’s unconscious body, and he slowly lets out a sigh. “It’s a long story, but yes, I suppose you could say we used to be friends.”

“Oh,” is all Jisung can say, uncomfortable with the sorrow lining Chan’s eyes. They walk the rest of the way back to the agency in silence, at least until they take the elevator up to the main office. Chan ungracefully kicks open the office door and shouts loudly, “Binnie! You there?”

The office looks just as messy as Jisung had seen it this morning before he left on patrol. The mountain of papers on the two desks has grown smaller, but it’s still tall enough that Jisung barely notices the top of Changbin’s head from behind one. The sound of a pen signing papers doesn’t stop even as Changbin’s voice calls out, “What do you want, Chan? It’s enough that you ran off and left me here to finish all this stupid paper work alone.”

“I’ve brought Minho.”

There’s a beat of silence, followed by the sound of a chair clattering to the floor. Changbin is on his feet, his head barely visible over the tower of papers that immediately topples over onto the ground. Jisung’s never seen Changbin look so unhinged, his eyes wide and unblinking at the sight of Levanter’s body, still slung over Chan’s shoulder.

“It’s really him?” Changbin quietly asks, almost like he’s scared.

Of what, Jisung doesn’t know, but when Chan nods, Changbin’s eyes immediately narrow, rage exploding across his face so suddenly that even the desk begins to rattle from its shaking shadow.

“Changbin, calm down. He’s still unconscious, and we’ll need to interrogate him later, so I’d save your personal issues with him until we hear what he has to say,” Chan says calmly, his eyes fixed on Changbin. Jisung can see where Changbin’s shadow falls against the cold tiled floor, the sunlight illuminating his back and casting his shadow on top of the shadow of the desk. The shadows tremble, but soon fall still as Changbin takes a deep breath and turns away.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’ll clean this up, but let me know when Minho wakes up.”

Changbin bends over to pick up the papers that had fallen off the desk. At that moment, the buzzer rings, and the three heroes look over to see a familiar head of blond hair in the video of the intercom.

“The news about Levanter must be out by now,” Chan states, shaking his head. “Jisung, can you go talk to Felix? He must be here to see Minho, but tell him we can’t afford to have too many people trying to confront him.”

Jisung raises an eyebrow, but Chan’s already heading to one of their backrooms, probably to settle Levanter down until he wakes up. Jisung glances back at the intercom. Felix’s blurry face is pulled tightly together like he’s frowning.

The trip downstairs doesn’t take long. When he opens the door to the agency, Jisung’s greeted with Felix’s wide-eyed surprise.

“Oh, Jisung, you’re here.”

“Yeah,” Jisung shrugs. “Chan said you’re here because of the news? Did they really report on our fight that quickly?”

“You’re the newest hot topic of the city,” Felix grins sheepishly, pulling out his phone and showing Jisung the newest headline on the largest city paper.

_J.One Takes Down the Fallen Hero, Levanter. Will Peace Finally Return?_

“They really like calling him a fallen hero, huh,” Jisung comments with a frown.

Felix sighs, looking nostalgic yet sad as he scrolls through the news page, settling on an image they were showing Levanter in his former hero costume. The young man in the image has a dashing smile across his face, the sunlight highlighting his sharp features and radiant skin, nothing like the man Jisung had just taken down earlier.

“It’s a testament to how much of a hero everyone used to think Levanter was, I guess. You wouldn’t know because you weren’t around when Levanter was active.”

“You weren’t around either,” Jisung scoffs.

“True, but well…” Felix trails off, pressing his lips together thoughtfully. “Anyways, it wasn’t in the news, but I heard Chan took Minho back here instead of handing him over to the police. Is that true?”

Jisung studies his best friend’s face carefully. There’s sincere concern and worry, and also a glimmer of hope. He sighs, “Yeah, Chan took him back here for some reason. Apparently they used to know each other or something. You and Changbin too. How come you all seem to be tied with this Levanter dude somehow?”

Felix gives a meek smile in response. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but the villain you know as Levanter really helped me out back in the day. Do you think I can talk to him?”

“Sorry, no one else but 3RACHA’s allowed,” Jisung says, shaking his head. “Chan’s orders. Why do you want to see him so badly?”

“I don’t know, I just…” Felix takes a deep breath. “He became a villain so suddenly, you know. I just thought if I could see him, like get a real proper look at him, maybe I could come to terms with why.”

Felix glances upwards towards his forehead. It’s hidden by his bangs, but Jisung can see Felix’s third eye, closed like usual. It’s something Felix was born with, due to his quirk, which happens to give Felix to ability to see all sorts of information about the world around him. It makes him extremely effective in gathering information, but also very good at analyzing all sorts of situations and scenarios.

Suddenly, Jisung remembers the weird feeling he’d gotten when he had tried to use his quirk on Levanter’s body.

“This is kind of unrelated, but you remember how my quirk works, right, Felix?” Jisung asks, dropping his voice to a whisper. “It’s something that bothered me at the time, but when I tried to knock Levanter unconscious, there was this one moment where I couldn’t get to the nerves of one part of his body. I didn’t have the chance to investigate it at the time, but it felt like that part of his body was repelling my quirk and making it go out of control.”

“Out of control?” Felix pursed his lips, looking pensive. “I probably won’t know until I see him in person, but I don’t think Levanter has the ability to reject your quirk like that. Unless maybe it’s something inside him? If it was able to interfere with your quirk when you used it on him, then maybe it’s something that distorts quirks in general.”

Quirk distortion? Jisung doesn’t think he’s heard of anything like that before. He thinks to how he lost control of his quirk for one second, how his instincts told him to steer clear of that area of Levanter’s body. If it’s something that is enough to make Jisung lose control of his quirk, then just what must have it been doing inside of Levanter…

Jisung gulps as he connects the dots. Felix’s eyes snaps up to Jisung, as if coming to the same conclusion. The horror in his eyes is obvious. “Don’t tell me, all those years ago, at that shopping mall, he was already…?”

“He didn’t use his quirk at all when I fought him,” Jisung quietly admits. “Look, Felix, I don’t know if that’s really the case, and I can’t just bring you up without Chan’s permission, but I’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise.”

Felix bites his lip but nods. He puts on a brave smile and says, “I trust you, Jisung. Can you promise me something else though? Promise me you’ll be gentle with him. If what we’re suspecting really is true, I… I don’t know how much pain he must have been in these past years, knowing we’ve labeled him as a villain.”

Jisung nods. “I promise. I’ll make sure everything turns out ok.”

“Thank you. I’ll leave it to you guys then. Just tell Chan to let me know when it’s okay for me to see Levanter,” Felix says.

He turns to leave with a wave and disappears into the crowd of people down the street, looking smaller than Jisung has ever seen him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Han Jisung  
> Hero Name: J.One  
> Agency: 3RACHA  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: Cell Takeover  
> Description: When he touches someone’s skin with his bare hands, he can take control of their nerves and cells! He can knock you out cold in a few seconds, or regrow your cells over a wound! He can take out your organs too, but don’t suggest it to him; the idea makes him sick.


	3. Out of Control

The office is clean by the time Jisung returns. Changbin’s sitting on one of the couches, glaring at a tile on the floor. Not sure how to break the silence, Jisung takes a seat across from him, and the two of them wait until the door to the backroom opens again. Chan wordlessly gestures for them to follow him inside, and they head in together.

Levanter’s body is lying on the twin bed, the one they normally use for midday naps. Chan must have taken off the cloak that Levanter had been wearing, because only now does Jisung see the extent of the suffering that must have filled the past four years of Levanter’s life. He’s dressed simply in a slightly tattered T-shirt and jeans that hang loosely off his body, like he hasn’t had a proper meal in a while. With how deeply asleep Levanter still is and how heavy the eye bags under his eyes are, Jisung wonders if this is the first time he’s even been able to properly rest.

The three of heroes line up against the wall opposite the bed, waiting in silence until finally, Levanter’s body twitches, and the villain opens his eyes.

Immediately, Levanter sits up, his legs swinging off the side of the bed as his eyes fall first on Chan, then to Changbin, and finally to Jisung. His expression is guarded, and his eyes are narrowed when he coldly says, “This isn’t the police station.”

“No, it’s not. I thought I would chat with you first, so I decided to abuse my power as the No. 1 hero for once,” Chan replies with a thin smile. Jisung doesn’t think he’s ever seen Chan look so forcefully calm, like it’s all a mask for some undefinable emotion simmering just underneath.

Levanter seems to see it too. His expression is almost too similar, but he rolls his eyes and scoffs, “Save it, Chan. You brought me here because you think there’s a chance I would never choose to be a villain on my own terms right? Well, you’re wrong.”

“So you really tried to hurt those people?”

Jisung glances over at Changbin, whose hands have balled into fists. He’s never seen Changbin look so angry. Levanter’s eyes flit towards Changbin, but he looks away just as quickly. Sighing, Levanter stretches his arms and says, “You wouldn’t understand, Changbin. You and Chan, you’re both straight-laced heroes who only know how to think about helping others. Yes, I could’ve been a hero, but with powers like mine? Why would I settle for helping people when I can make them all bend to my will?”

The room is deadly silent. Changbin looks like he’s ready to explode, and even Chan’s expression has turned serious, like he’s given up hope.

This is it, Jisung thinks. It’s time for him to make a move.

He knows he has little right to be part of this conversation, but he made a promise to Felix, and he has a hunch about the truth that Levanter clearly has no intention of admitting.

Jisung exhales loudly, causing all eyes to turn on him.

“I don’t know you that well, Levanter, but the least you can do is be honest to your former friends,” Jisung says, stepping closer and watching Levanter’s every little move.

“Jisung,” Chan warns, but Jisung ignores him. He gets as close as he can to Levanter and stares down into his dark brown eyes.

“You didn’t decide to become a villain,” Jisung says. “I don’t know why you’re lying, but do you know what I think?”

“What?” Levanter defiantly replies, his eyes narrowing like he’s still confident in the facade Jisung can now see he’s putting on. It’s in the way Levanter’s hands have clenched around the bed sheets, how his body is stiff and his eyes refuse to look away from Jisung’s, as if he can make Jisung back down with his glare.

Jisung smiles back, strangely not feeling intimidated.

“You’re scared,” Jisung puts simply. “You’re scared because you’ve lost control of your quirk.”

Levanter’s eyes widen for a split second, and Jisung knows he’s hit the jackpot. Before Chan and Changbin can react, Levanter tries to leap to his feet. A terrifying pressure is starting to build in the room as wisps of wind start to gather at Levanter’s hands, his expression fighting between panic and hostility.

Jisung’s a second faster. He tackles Levanter onto the bed and pins his body down with his legs.

“Sorry, but this is going to hurt,” Jisung says. His eyes start to glow red, and he rips open the front of Levanter’s shirt before plunging his hands down against Levanter’s bare skin. Immediately, he sets Levanter’s nerves afire as Jisung pushes his senses through muscle until he finds the spot he’d sensed earlier.

Levanter gasps in pain, his eyes widening in shock before rolling back again, fainting without Jisung even needing to knock him out. Jisung just scrunches his nose, concentrating harder as he digs through the layers of nerve muscle in Levanter’s body until he finds it. There’s a strange clump of flesh that shouldn’t be there, almost like a tumor lodged between Levanter’s muscles. Once again, his quirk refuses to phase through any nerves surrounding it, leaving Jisung a split second to debate his options. Finally, he closes his eyes and imagines his quirk taking over a circle of cells around the clump of flesh, and begins to instruct Levanter’s cells how to move and shift to push the foreign object out while forcing them to mend themselves over the hole it leaves behind.

After what feels like hours, Jisung finally opens his eyes and watches as his quirk pushes the tumor he’d sensed through Levanter’s skin. It’s writhing at the surface, a disgusting clump of flesh and muscle that fighting the cells Jisung is controlling to forcibly remove it from Levanter’s body.

“Chan, get me a jar!” Jisung shouts. He hears a clattering sound as someone leaves the room and hastily comes back just as Jisung’s pushed most of the flesh partly free from Levanter’s skin. An empty jar appears in the corner of his eyes. Jisung lifts one hand from Levanter’s skin and rips the clump of flesh from Levanter’s body, not willing to risk the chance that it might try to rebury itself into Levanter’s body. He hates how it wriggles against his skin and plops it hastily into the open jar being held out to him. With his other hand, he focuses on properly fusing the rest of Levanter’s cells back together, until Levanter’s skin looks just as it used to, scarless and whole.

Jisung gags at the slime still on his left hand and finally glances back towards Chan and Changbin. Chan is making a similarly disgusted face as he screws the lid of the jar on tight, eyeing the still wriggling clump of flesh inside it.

“What’s that?” Changbin asks, looking absolutely dumbfounded.

Chan hands Jisung a paper towel, and Jisung gladly wipes his hand clean. Glancing back at Levanter’s once again unconscious figure, Jisung explains, “I felt it earlier when I tried to knock him out during our fight, and when I talked to Felix about it, he said maybe there was something inside Levanter that was distorting his quirk. Given how badly Levanter reacted when I said he’d lost control of his quirk, I guessed I must’ve been right so I thought I’d try to get rid of it for him. Doesn’t explain why he didn’t think to tell someone or go get a surgeon remove it for him though.”

Changbin’s legs give out from underneath him, but Chan reaches out and manages to hold him upright. Changbin’s hands are visibly shaking now, his eyes fixated on Levanter’s gently breathing body, and his voice trembles as he asks, “You mean all of that, everything that’s happened these past four years was because he was losing control?”

Jisung shrugs, and Changbin slams a fist into the wall behind him. He snaps, “Why would he shut us out like that? He could’ve come to any of us and explained everything, and we could’ve figured something out for him. How could he let it go so far?”

“We’ll ask him when he wakes up,” Chan says firmly, though he also looks like he’s about to blow a fuse.

Jisung purses his lips. “Want me to wake him up now?”

Chan and Changbin pause, their intense anger dissipating as they share a look. An understanding passes between them, and they nod. Chan scoffs,“Give this idiot the most painful shock you can.”

Jisung grins. He presses a finger into Levanter’s side and sends a signal of pain coursing through his body. Levanter jolts upright with a hiss. He’s breathing heavily when he turns towards the heroes again, his guarded look returning until his eyes fall on the jar Chan’s still holding in his hand.

“What the hell is that?” Levanter demands, disgust lacing his voice.

“It’s the thing Jisung here so kindly extracted from you,” Chan replies, raising his eyebrows and fixing Levanter with a judging look. “Want to tell us why you tried to hide the fact that this thing here was making your quirk go out of control, Minho?”

Levanter’s eyes widen, trembling as they flit to his hands. Almost hesitantly, he lifts both of his hands up towards his face, and immediately a gentle breeze swirls about above each hand. His eyes snap towards Jisung as he breathes out, “You really extracted that without any trouble?”

“Was it supposed to be hard?”

Levanter finally looks vulnerable, as the winds disappear from his hands and he lets them drop into his lap. “I tried, once, to go to a surgeon and see if he could get whatever was inside of me out. That was about three years ago. I think you all know the Central Hospital incident?”

Jisung is well aware of the Central Hospital incident.

It’s the one that truly made Levanter a notorious, wanted criminal, when whirlwinds ripped through the halls of the largest hospital in the city, killing and injuring hundreds before any heroes could arrive on the scene. Jisung had been finishing up his final year in high school, and he’d never felt such indignant rage at the sight of the hospital ruins, torn up by the heavy winds and reduced to piles of rubble. The heroes hadn’t been able to find Levanter there at the scene, but everyone was well aware of the characteristics of his quirk, and with that, Levanter went down in history from nostalgic fallen hero to atrocious villain.

Levanter looks ashamed when he sees their expressions. Keeping his eyes on his hands, he quietly admits, “The moment they tried to knock me out for the surgery, my quirk activated on its own, as if whatever was infecting me could sense I was trying to take it out and had unleashed my quirk to protect itself. I couldn’t even go to the police to hand myself in. If I tried to have someone give me a medical checkup to tell me what was wrong, or if I even tried to willingly let a hero defeat me, I’d always lose control, and well… the rest is history.”

Chan is fuming by the time Levanter stops talking. “And the person who did this to you? Or are you going to tell me this is some rare disease you contracted out of nowhere?”

Levanter lets out a mirthless laugh. “Don’t worry, I’m done with the lies, now that my quirk’s back under control. As for the person who did this to me, I turned him into the police a while ago, right after what happened at the shopping mall. He tried to corner me and gloat about what he’d done to me, thinking I wouldn’t try anything that might reactivate my quirk when I couldn’t control it, so I beat him up with my fists and dragged him to a police station. I couldn’t turn myself in, of course, because of my quirk going crazy, but as far as I know, he’s still snugly in jail.”

“Just what did he do to you then?”

“I’m not really sure. I remember him bumping into me one day, and that’s when I started to lose control. He said it was some drug that’d been developed that could take over a person’s quirk, but even then, it was something he had been given from a person or a group that must’ve been researching something like that. I did try looking into it on my own, but I couldn’t do much since I was literally a walking disaster. Not that it makes sense though. If there really was a drug like that out there, the real question is why there aren’t more people who’ve noticeably lost control of their quirks.”

Chan nods, thinking carefully. Levanter turns to Jisung. Now that he’s heard Levanter’s side of the story and knows that Levanter isn’t quite the villain he’s been painted as, Jisung can only once again feel overwhelmed by the beauty of Levanter’s looks, slightly nervous about the intense gaze of those dark brown eyes. Pressing his lips together and keeping his eyes wide, Jisung says, “What do you want, Levanter?”

Levanter immediately scowls. “Don’t call me that again.”

“It’s your hero name though.”

“It _was_ my hero name. Now, it’s my villain name, and worse than that, I’ve lost the right to even have a hero name.”

“Okay, then what am I supposed to call you?”

“Just Minho is fine,” Levanter—Minho replies. “That’s besides the point. I’m curious as to why you of all people seemed to be able to get past that thing’s defenses.”

Jisung shrugs. “Probably my quirk then, from how you described it. It was wary of outside defenses, but it’s clearly happy to be stuck inside your body. It probably didn’t realize I was extracting it until I’d nearly gotten it out of your body since I was using your own cells to kick it out.”

Minho looks confused, squinting his eyes as if trying to process what Jisung has just described. He gives up with a shrug and continues, “Either way, I ought to thank you, I guess. My quirk’s back under control because of you, and I don’t have to worry about accidentally harming people anymore, so thanks.”

Jisung’s not quite sure how to respond. Minho doesn’t seem to care, because he takes the chance to face Chan again. “On that note, now that I’m back to myself again, I need you to take me to the police.”

“No.”

Minho’s eyes narrow. “No? Chan, I’ve hurt people with my quirk. I’ve killed people. I don’t care if you think I’m not responsible because I wasn’t in control of my quirk. I still hurt people, and for that, I need to go to jail.”

“I’m not saying you’re not responsible for everything that’s happened,” Chan replies. “I’m not intending on letting you get off scot free, but I won’t deny that you’re valuable, Minho. Your quirk is one of the most powerful amongst heroes in our generation, and there’s no doubt that as much as you’d like to deny it, you’ve still got all the qualities of a hero. I noticed that incidents involving you were decreasing throughout the years, and it’s because you tried to avoid people, didn’t you?”

Minho presses his lips thinly together, his gaze wavering as Chan continues, “Even when you were in a situation that couldn’t stop your quirk from hurting others, you tried as hard as you could to keep that damage to a minimum when you could, and that sense of responsibility you have is exactly why I’m not going to let you just waltz off to a prison cell. You said it yourself. If you were really targeted by some evil plot that no hero has noticed, then that means there’s a person or organization out there that might just be biding its time and waiting to unleash some new kind of evil on society. They must’ve at least been aware that your villainy was entirely something of their creation, and if they learn that they’ve successfully ruined the life of someone who was going to be one of the best heroes, I’m certain they’ll grow bolder and begin to act. Are you really going to just leave the responsibility of catching people like that to someone else?”

Minho is glaring at Chan by the time he’s done talking. He clicks his tongue and grumpily casts his eyes to the side. “I hate how easily you can convince people like that.”

“So you agree it’d be a waste to send you off to the police?”

“What else am I supposed to do though? I’m still a wanted criminal who’s been on the run for the past four years.”

“Do you trust me, Minho?”

The air in the room stills as all eyes snap to Chan.

 _Do you trust me?_ It’s Chan’s signature catchphrase, words that have defined Chan’s career as a reassurance that everything is going to be okay, that as long as one believes, Chan will always be there to save the day.

There’s something hidden in the way he asks that question to Minho now. Chan’s catchphrase is almost always spoken like it’s a promise, but this time, it sounds almost like a plea. Like Chan needs to hear Minho’s answer, like he needs the reassurance, just as much as he’s asking Minho to believe.

Minho stares at Chan’s outstretched hand. Jisung can’t fully decipher the wary look in Minho’s eyes, but he eventually breaks into a small, comfortable smile and takes Chan’s hand.

“Chan, you know I’ll always trust you.”

Relief gives way to a cheeky grin, as Chan declares, “Great. Then let’s go and get Levanter arrested, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Lee Minho  
>  ~~Hero~~ Villain Name: Levanter  
> Quirk: Wind  
> Description: He can summon wind at his fingertips and command them to cause great destruction on a large scale. Once a power that saved people, this dangerous quirk has only caused more and more harm since this hero fell to the pits of villainy. Also, he can fly by propelling himself forward with wind, but his fear of heights makes him quite bad at it.


	4. Emotions Running High

“This sucks.”

“I know. You’ve said it like ten times already.”

“Still sucks.”

Jisung rolls his eyes. They’ve been watching tv for the past hour, and Minho has been complaining non-stop since they started. For someone who used to be a hero people looked up to, Jisung hadn’t expected Minho to be such a hassle to deal with.

“Is it really that bad rewatching your own trial?”

“It was boring enough the first time it happened. Why should I have to sit through it again?” Minho complains. He’s sprawled out lazily on the couch like a cat mid-stretch. “When’s Channie going to come out and talk?”

“He said around one,” Jisung replies, glancing up at the clock. He and Minho have been stuck inside the 3RACHA Hero Agency for the past week. They’re currently watching a rerun of one of the most popular tv programs of this week, the arrest and trial of Levanter, the fallen hero. Every news channel is broadcasting images of Minho’s tired face, dressed in an ugly orange as he’s led around in handcuffs, first into the police station, then to his trials, all publicly broadcasted for the world to see.

Only after all the formalities were over had the cameras been turned off, reporters turned away, and finally, as idea of Levanter was led away in chains, Lee Minho was set free and returned to the custody of society’s number one hero in secret.

Which is what led to the present. While free in all other senses of the word, Minho hasn’t been allowed outside yet. He’s still too well-known of a face, and he’s still a man who hasn’t had proper control of his quirk for four years. That’s where Jisung comes in. As a seemingly natural counter to Minho’s absurd power, Jisung has been officially assigned as Minho’s partner, or rather his supervisor, so for the past few days, Jisung’s job has officially gone from hero to babysitter. Not ideal, and Jisung doesn’t know what kind of grand plan Chan has to deceive the public, but he assumes Chan will have something up his sleeve.

As if on cue, the tv program finally switches to live news. On the small screen, Chan waltzes up to the podium, dressed in a formal suit instead of his usual hero costume. His blond hair is neatly brushed back with hair gel, and he looks lively and sharp as he casts the room a smile.

Minho whistles at the screen. “Damn, he’s still hot in a suit.”

Jisung barely bites back a laugh when a dark shadow falls over the both of them.

“There’s no need to be so crass,” Changbin says coldly, passing by them to sit down on the opposite sofa. His short black hair is a fluffy mess, and there’s dark eye bags under his eyes. He’s dressed in plain clothes today, just a T-shirt and jeans, so his arm muscles are prominent. He leans back, glaring at the tv and refusing to look in Minho and Jisung’s direction as he sips on a can of soda.

“Someone’s cranky,” Minho mumbles under his breath. Changbin’s hand tightens around the can, but he doesn’t respond, almost like he’s determined to pretend Minho doesn’t exist.

It’s rare for Changbin to look so visibly tired, but before Jisung can wonder what’s been up with Changbin these past few days, Chan starts to talk. The hero bows to the press and says, “Thank you for gathering here today. As you all know, Levanter was captured and brought in by a hero under my agency. He was only able to do so with the quick response of the public in identifying Levanter and staying calm, so for that, I would like to thank the people for their help.”

Cameras flash. A reporter raises her hand and asks, “Why isn’t J.One here? We’ve been wanting to ask questions about how he was able to defeat Levanter.”

“Unfortunately, J.One has been busy with his duties as a hero,” Chan says. Jisung only feels relief when he hears Chan’s lie. Jisung’s never liked the media, given how much he dislikes large crowds in general, which is why he’s so appreciative that Chan is always willing to accommodate him like this. “Although he’s not here, I would also like to reiterate that I’m very proud of the work he’s done as a hero, and I expect he’ll only grow more popular from now on.”

Minho nudges Jisung slightly as the younger boy starts to go red. “Good for you, getting praise like that.”

“Thanks,” Jisung quietly responds, rubbing at his cheeks before settling down more comfortably next to Minho.

Another reporter stands up. “Now that Levanter has been detained, have you made any plans for the future of this city as the No. 1 Hero, Chan?”

“Of course. Levanter has been the most wanted villain for the past four years, and now that he’s been captured, it’ll only be natural for villains connected to him to rise up. For that reason, my agency has just recruited a new sidekick, who will be working together to strengthen our forces in preparation for potential issues that may arise with the fall of Levanter. For his privacy and safety, I will only be revealing his Hero Name, and he will act anonymously under his hero name in order to protect his personal life and his family until we can be sure that the threat of Levanter and those connected to him are properly dealt with.”

A projector flickers on behind Chan, and a large blown-up image appears. It’s a head shot of a familiar head of messy blue hair, dressed in a black cloak with a cat mask covering the top half of his face. Jisung glances over at Minho, who’s staring at the screen with a bored, emotionless look on his face. His blue hair had taken forever to dye a few days ago, before Jisung had gotten fed up and forcefully changed Minho’s hair cells to the color blue. Just one step to try and make Minho look a little less recognizable, though Jisung has to say, blue looks good on him.

“While he couldn’t make it here with us today, I’d like to introduce the public to Lee Know,” Chan says. Immediately, reporters are trying to pry more information about this new hero from Chan, who skillfully dodges all questions.

Jisung takes the chance to ask Minho, “Why you’d pick Lee Know?”

Minho shrugs nonchalantly. “Kinda sounds like my name, doesn’t it? I would’ve just gone by Minho, but it’s already such a common name, so I thought I’d at least stand out while I’m still doing hero work. Couldn’t exactly call myself Lee No though. It’d be like trying to deny myself and what I want to achieve, so I decided on Lee Know. I know myself, and I know the hearts of the people I want to save. Cute, isn’t it?”

Seeing Minho smile so earnestly at how much he liked the new name he’d come up for himself, Jisung can’t help but smile back. “Yeah, it’s cute.”

“Of course it is, I thought of it,” Minho cackles.

The endless chatter of the reporters finally dies down from the tv. Someone asks, “How can you be sure that this new hero, Lee Know, will be helpful in this new era post-Levanter?”

“In order to strengthen our forces, I’ve decided it’ll be good if we can have more heroes working together. For that reason, he’ll be working under the supervision of J.One from now on, and I’m pleased to say that he has a wonderful work ethic and a powerful quirk to aid him. I have full trust that Lee Know will be of great help to our agency and contribute to the peace of society.”

Jisung has been nodding along up until now, when a glaringly obvious flaw in their plan becomes obvious.

“Shit, your quirk’s still the same,” Jisung mutters. “Won’t they find it suspicious that this new hero that we’re introducing has Levanter’s quirk?”

“Don’t be an idiot. Chan will have taken care of all the details,” Changbin grumbles, tilting his head all the way back to get the last drops of soda from the can. Minho barely spares either of them a glance. There’s a disgruntled look on his face, like he’s not eager for what Chan’s about to say.

“His quirk is Emotion,” Chan says confidently, easing Jisung’s worries. “Depending on his emotions, he’s be able to summon different elements to use at will, and I expect him to put this great power he has to good use for the public.”

Jisung’s mouth makes a small o. He has to give it to Chan for making up such a convincing lie. This way, they can just have Minho pick an emotion that’ll be when he uses wind and make sure he puts on a good show of putting on that emotion and—

Wait. Different elements?

Jisung turns to Minho with wide eyes. Minho is full out glaring at the tv screen by now, his body having slunk down the couch so that he’s effectively sitting on his back, his legs almost completely off his seat. He puffs his cheeks out and mutters, “Chan didn’t have to expose me like that.”

“Of course he would,” Changbin coldly says. He gets up and clenches the soda can in one hand before tossing it towards a nearby trash can.

He misses.

Ignoring Minho’s snort of laughter, Changbin grumpily picks up his trash and continues, “You were the one who broke our trust first, Minho. It’s only right that you stop settling for the easy way out and put some effort into developing all of your quirk.”

There’s hostility in Minho’s eyes as his narrowed eyes fix Changbin with a piercing gaze. He sits up again, tilting his head to one side slightly.

“Want to try saying that again, Seo Changbin?” Minho snarls. Jisung swears he can feel the temperature rising in the room as Minho and Changbin stand in opposite corners looking ready to break into a fight, neither willing to back off.

“You’ve really gotten worse at controlling your quirk,” Changbin finally says after an eternity with a roll of his eyes. His short but well-built figure strides out the office door without a glance behind. The door shuts with a loud click just as Changbin adds, “Chan better dock your pay to fix that couch.”

Minho and Jisung glance down, and the color drains from Jisung’s face. Minho’s body is literally steaming at this point, and the leather of the couches underneath him is starting to melt.

“I can’t believe he got me riled up like that,” Minho scowls, getting off the couch and leaving behind a half-melted seat still exuding hot steam. Minho’s body too is still emitting white wisps of hot air, as if his body’s water content is boiling hot and evaporating from him.

“Minho, what’s the meaning of this?” Jisung tentatively asks, taking off one of the gloves he usually wears to keep himself from accidentally activating his quirk, ready to knock Minho unconscious if it becomes necessary. “Is this what Chan meant about you being able to use different elements depending on your emotions?”

Minho scowls in Jisung’s direction but then quickly takes in a deep breath. A frown still heavy on his face, Minho holds out one hand, his palm facing upwards. Jisung watches in awe as bright red flames come to life in the palm of Minho’s hand. Minho closes his eye and focuses on his breathing, until Jisung can tell that he’s trying to calm himself down. The flames in Minho’s hand grow smaller and smaller, until Minho opens his eyes again. Together, they watch as the fire dies, the final embers drifting upwards as Minho’s hand now swirls with a familiar wind.

“It’s like Chan said. The truth is that I don’t have a wind quirk. It’s simply a lie that I’ve let everyone believe,” Minho sighs, closing his hand and letting it drop back to his side, the winds disappearing.

“But that doesn’t make sense. You used to be a famous hero, right? At some point, someone would have discovered that your registered quirk wasn’t wind then.”

“True, but only if my registered quirk wasn’t wind.”

Jisung raises his eyebrows. “You lied to the government?”

“I wouldn’t call it lying,” Minho says, pursing his lips. “My quirk first manifested in the form of wind, so that’s how it got registered. I updated it once in high school since it was hard to hide that I could only use my wind powers when I was calm or happy, but otherwise, no one questioned it, so I probably could’ve officially been a hero with a wind quirk for all my life. The only people who know the truth are my parents and, well, my high school friends.”

“But why didn’t you update your quirk correctly? You can use different elements, not just wind, right? Why not take advantage of it?” Jisung asks, recalling how Changbin had accused Minho of not fully developing his quirk.

“Because I didn’t need to,” Minho replies.

It’s an answer that ticks Jisung off. All his life, he’s had to struggle to perfect his quirk, a never-ending battle to test the limits of what he can do, and yet here was someone blessed with a powerful quirk, who had decided to settle on one aspect and effectively give up on the rest.

Minho laughs humorlessly at the irritation clearly visible on Jisung’s face. “You’re just like Changbin. He reacted like that too when he first learned the truth. Guess that’s part of why he’s mad at me.”

“Well, he’s right to be mad. You might be powerful, Minho, with your wind and all, but it just feels like you’re making fun of everyone who’s worked so hard to become a hero by saying you have the luxury to withhold parts of your quirk,” Jisung says, trying to curb back his irritation.

He doesn’t mean to be critical. He’s gotten to know Minho enough these past few days that he knows Minho doesn’t have such arrogant intentions. Jisung just simply has too much pride in having worked his way up to where he is now, and seeing someone so easily achieve such heights twists his gut in ways he can’t understand.

“It’s not that I disagree,” Minho replies when he sees that Jisung has calmed himself down a bit. “It’s just emotions are a tricky thing, you know. The only reason I found out I could also summon fire and water was because I got so emotional that I lost control of my quirk, and both times I ended up causing harm to myself and others . All in all, not great first impressions of the other things my quirk can do.”

Jisung doesn’t meet Minho’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was blaming you or anything. It’s just, it’s such a waste of your quirk.”

“I know. But I told myself I at least wouldn’t use my quirk out of anger again. My quirk has been out of control for four years, and anger is an emotion that’s already hard to keep in check. If one day I try to wield my quirk out of rage, I’m scared I’ll just lose control and these flames might do more harm than good.”

Jisung has to agree with Minho on that point, as frustrating as it is. He asks, “Then what about your water powers?”

He wonders if Minho has some other deep reason as to why he doesn’t use his water powers either. Instead, Minho just laughs, as if the answer should be obvious, “Why would I bother to purposely make myself sad?”

Jisung raises an eyebrow. “That’s it? That’s why you didn’t test it?”

“I mean, I can control it well enough, but what am I supposed to do with the power of sadness? Try fighting villains while thinking about all the cats in animal shelters who never end up finding a home?”

Jisung shuts the image of sad, abandoned pets out of his mind before he ends up the one upset about it. He emphatically says, “Look, I get you have valid reasons to only use the wind part of your quirk, but now that Chan’s declared that your quirk is Emotion, even if we do pass off your wind powers as one aspect of your quirk, I can’t imagine the reporters not getting suspicious if that’s all you end up using. There must be some way you can use your entire quirk properly…”

“You mean some way that doesn’t involve thinking about dead kittens?”

Jisung smacks Minho on the arm. “Stop it! Now all I’m going to be able to think about is that, and it’s going to make me sad!”

“Glad you feel my struggle,” Minho just laughs, plopping himself dramatically onto the remaining couch that isn’t destroyed. Jisung sticks a tongue out at Minho, who just lazily stretches his arms out. Marveling his flexibility, Jisung suddenly remembers what feels like a very important fact.

“Wait, don’t you dance?”

Minho looks up in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I’ve been bored, so I was looking up past articles and stuff about you when you were still Levanter,” Jisung admits, drawing a smile onto Minho’s face.

“You’re that obsessed with me?” Minho teases. It makes Jisung go red but he refuses to get led off topic.

“The point is, you’re a good dancer right? And isn’t dancing all about conveying emotion or something like that?” Jisung says, his words coming out rapidly as his excitement grows. “Can’t you use that for your fights somehow?”

Minho stares. His eyes are wide as he processes what Jisung has just said. Minho suddenly rushes forward, gripping Jisung’s shoulders tightly as a wide smile blooms across his face.

“Han Jisung, you’re a genius!”

“I know,” Jisung haughtily replies on instinct. “So you think it’ll work?”

“I won’t know till I try it,” Minho says eagerly, energy thrumming through his body. “I can’t believe I never thought of this idea before! I gotta try this out!”

Jisung’s cell phone suddenly rings. It’s Chan.

“Is something wrong?” Jisung asks immediately after picking up. Chan rarely ever calls him except for emergencies.

“I had a hunch you weren’t watching the news anymore,” Chan says. “A villain just appeared two blocks away from the agency. Something about a mud quirk. You and Minho should go take care of him.”

“Not that I don’t like taking out villains, but is it really okay for Minho to go out in public now?”

“Villains?” Minho perks up, his eyes shining. “Ooh, is Chan saying it’s okay for me to have a go at one?”

Jisung shrugs, and Minho bounds away, a cheer to his step as he goes to find the black cloak he’s temporarily using as his “hero costume”.

“Someone sounds excited,” Chan snorts from the other side of the line, though Jisung can picture the smile on his face. “And yes, now that I’ve introduced the public to Lee Know, it’d be a good time for him to get some accomplishments under his belt. I can count on you guys, right?”

Jisung glances over at Minho, who has dramatically covered himself with his cloak and is currently feeling around Changbin and Chan’s work desks for his mask. “Yeah, I think we’ll be fine. See you later, Chan.”

Jisung hangs up. Minho ends up finding his mask in his pocket and puts it on.

 _Cute_ , is Jisung’s first thought. Minho’s slender body is completely engulfed by his flowing cloak, and the toy cat mask doesn’t do much to make him look intimidating. With the way he can’t stop smiling, Minho looks so much like an over-excited child that Jisung doesn’t know how he could’ve ever once been thought of as an intimidating villain.

Jisung grabs his own mask from where it’s hanging by the door. He’s already wearing his costume, which is just a black jacket and baggy pants with red lining his collar and sleeves. Comfort over anything else, as Jisung likes to put it. As long as he can touch his opponent, he doesn’t really care for the fashion of hero costumes.

“Come on, let’s hurry,” Minho says, dragging Jisung out the door the moment he manages to tie his black mask over his eyes. “We’ve got a show to put on, and I can’t wait to test this dancing thing out!”

“What if it doesn’t work though?” Jisung can’t help but ask as they step out into the sunlight.

Minho casts him a brilliant smile, his brown eyes sparkling underneath the sun from behind his mask. He wraps his fingers tightly around Jisung’s wrist and laughs, “It’s your genius idea, isn’t it? Of course it’ll work!”

He swirls one hand above his head in a circle and thrusts it behind him with a dramatic flair as he pushes off the ground. A powerful gale of wind rips through the air behind them, hurtling Minho and Jisung down the street towards the sound of a commotion two blocks down.

“Let’s go fight a villain!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: ??? ~~Totally not Lee Minho~~  
>  Hero Name: Lee Know  
> Agency: 3RACHA  
> Blood Type: O  
> Quirk: Emotion  
> Description: Depending on the emotion he is feeling, he can summon forth different elements, though he can only do so one at a time. His wind powers are the most developed, but maybe he’ll try developing his fire and water powers soon. It’s likely there’s a lot more elements he has yet to discover as well.


	5. Stuck in the Mud

Jisung knows he told Chan that he and Minho could handle the fight.

The truth is anything but that.

As it turns out, mud is horribly annoying, and the people who use it? Even more so.

When Minho and Jisung arrive on the scene, the street has been evacuated. The police rush them past the flimsy barrier that’s been set up around the villain, who has decimated the area with a splotchy layer of mud.

“Why’s he just sitting there?” Jisung asks the head policeman. The villain is sitting in the middle of the mess he’s made, completely calm and staring in the other direction, as if it were totally normal to just be a person sitting in a mud swamp in the middle of the city.

“He said he’s waiting for pro heroes to show up,” the policeman whispers. “He just suddenly unleashed his quirk in the middle of the street and declared he wouldn’t leave until a hero came.”

“Well, here we are,” Jisung grits his teeth. “Any information on his quirk?”

“Not much, though we have witnesses saying they saw this man unload about a dozen large trash cans from a truck earlier. They must’ve been filled with mud, so the villain must only be able to control mud that’s already available to him.”

Jisung thanks the policeman and directs him to go back to safety. He gestures at Minho to follow him, and the two of them creep quietly towards the villain, who still doesn’t seem to notice their presence.

Jisung glances at Minho and mimes a dancing move, forcing Minho to choke back a laugh. Minho then turns towards the villain and takes a deep breath. Eyeing the mud carefully, he picks up his left foot and places it on an area that hasn’t been covered in mud. His expression suddenly turns serious as Minho brings his arms down to his waist. They swing upwards as Minho jumps into the air. He lands heavily, and immediately with extreme precision, he pivots on his left foot and sets his right foot onto another area with no mud to face the villain, pushing his arms out in front of him. A puff of fire envelopes his hands. His arms circle back up and down again, his fists slamming down in the air as he pivots again on his left, stepping again with his right. He leaps into the air as his hands come back up to his face, and finally lands again on his left, kicking out towards the villain with his right foot.

A roaring wall of flame shoots straight towards the unsuspecting villain. In his excitement, Minho accidentally sets his right foot down in mud.

“Got you,” the villain says, and he spins to face them, summoning up a towering wall of mud. The flames slam into it with a sizzle, and the mud crumbles back to the earth, one side completely dried out.

Minho doesn’t seem to mind. He turns to Jisung excitedly and says, “Did you see that? It worked!”

“Yeah, cool, focus on the villain, Lee Know!” Jisung shouts. He sets off running, careful not to step in any mud, as Minho pulls out another set of dance moves, this time spewing out water.

“You really can use different elements,” the villain calls out, easily swiping a hand up and summoning around wall from the mud around him. “Not bad for the hero who Chan’s trusted to take care of things now that Levanter’s gone!”

“I don’t—” Minho spins up into the air, shooting powerful winds down at the enemy. “—think Levanter has anything to do with this!”

“But he does!” the villain cackles, running forward to meet Minho as he casts another wave of mud at him, forcing Minho to dodge. “When I saw the news, I just knew I had to come draw you out! J.One, the hero who took down Levanter, and Lee Know, who the great hero Chan has declared his faith in! You think villains will accept that the age of terror brought about by Levanter will so easily be taken apart by two no-name heroes? No, with Levanter’s demise as the start of our revolution, we’ll show this society that we don’t need these laws to tell us how to use our quirks!”

Jisung can’t make out Minho’s expression from behind his mask. “That,” Minho says, directing a punch of wind towards the villain, who rolls away in the mud, “is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It won’t be once I make an example out of you!” the villain cries. Minho begins to run towards the villain, deciding the mud isn’t something he needs to worry about. Upon seeing Minho run so easily through the mud, Jisung decides to trust the veteran hero’s judgment and also dashes into the mud. The villain appears to only be able to—

“Bet you only think my quirk can only control mud to attack?” the villain cackles, sending two waves of mud out, one towards each hero. They dodge simultaneously. Minho skids to a halt and summons worth a burst of wind towards the villain, who again rolls to the side in Jisung’s direction. Jisung keeps pressing forward. The villain is almost within touch when Jisung suddenly trips forward. Something has grabbed his foot. He pales when he sees a hand of mud protruding from the mud itself, wrapped tightly around his ankle.

“Your judgment is lacking, J.One. So much for a self-proclaimed genius!” the villain taunts, satisfied that he’s trapped Jisung in place and turning his full attention to Minho, who immediately tries to escape by hovering in the air.

He’s a second too late. Tendrils of mud lash out and drag him back to the ground, firmly holding back his arms and trapping his feet in the mud.

“Lee Know!” Jisung screams, but he’s too slow. The mud is fighting against his attempts to move. He watches helplessly as Minho struggles to rip his arms from being pressed down by the mud. He tries to blast wind from his fingertips, but the attempt only strains his arms, as the mud pulls more tightly back. The villain approaches him with a sinister smile, leering down at Minho’s captive figure.

“Let’s get a look behind your mask, shall we?” the villain sneers, reaching one hand down towards Minho’s mask.

In the instant the villain tries to rip off Minho’s mask, a blur of golden white flies towards them over the mud, and a foot slams into the villain’s head.

The villain goes flying, screeching in pain, as he slams into the mud a distance away, dazed.

Jisung watches wide-eyed as a small fennec fox lands nimbly on Minho’s shoulders, avoiding the mud. He cries out, “I.N.!”

The fox chirps at him and begins to transform into a young boy who looks just out of high school, with high, defined cheekbones and a radiant smile. He’s wearing a simple white full-bodysuit with gold stripes around his wrists and similarly colored boots, and the top half of his face is similarly covered in a mask of white and gold.

I.N. calls out with a cheeky laugh. “J.One! You’re not looking too hot there! Need help?”

Jisung admits he doesn’t look his best. He’s caked in mud, and his feet are still stubbornly stuck. Before he can reply though, Minho interrupts him.

“Hey, kid, get off,” Minho huffily snaps, finally wrenching his arms from the clutches of the distracted villain’s quirk. He glares at I.N.’s two feet, which are soundly placed on his shoulders as the boy in question hunches over Minho’s head. “You’re heavy.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” I.N. hops off, nimbly landing on the small areas that remain without mud. “The name’s I.N., by the way. I came here first thing wondering if the hero Chan talked about would be here, and I guessed right! You’re not as impressive sounding as he made it out to be though.”

Minho looks like he’s about to burst a vein. Clenching his fist, he shouts at Jisung, “What’s with this kid? Can I kill him?”

“Be nice, Lee Know!” Jisung shouts, finally freeing one foot from the mud before realizing he has nowhere to place it. “Do something about this mud, won’t you? I can’t get near him otherwise!”

“Let me just kill this kid first,” Minho mutters under his breath, though his mind is busy trying to come up with a sad dance or event that might give him the edge to wash away the mud.

I.N.’s laughter rings out bright and clear in the afternoon air. “You’re free to try, but we can do that after we’ve dealt with this villain!”

I.N. suddenly grabs Minho and takes a huge leap into the sky as the villain sends a wave of mud their way. They land a distance away, and I.N. sets Minho down gently on a part of the ground not covered in mud.

“You okay?” I.N. asks, looking concerned at how pale Minho’s face has suddenly gotten.

“Not good with heights,” Minho gasps out, his eyes shut tight. The sudden jump had surprised him, and Minho had made the mistake of looking down just as I.N. reached the peak of his jump. Not wanting the young hero to feel bad though, Minho manages to add, “You jump really well. Thanks.”

I.N. nods. Suddenly, he starts to sprout fur all over his body. In a moment, he’s grown a full coat of fur, that he sheds casually like it hadn’t just been attached to his body. He wraps the fur coat around Minho, who stops shaking.

“It’ll keep you warm and help you calm down,” I.N. says brightly. “I was joking earlier too, so I hope you don’t take what I said too seriously. I’m used to joking around with J.One like that, but I shouldn’t have assumed you would be okay with it.”

Minho sinks into the warmth of the fur. Unable to resist reaching out and ruffling I.N.’s tussled black hair, Minho mutters, “I’ll be fine, thanks. I didn’t mean to get mad either, so don’t worry about it.I’ll recover in a moment, so go help J.One out before he gets too frustrated.”

I.N. looks over to see Jisung muttering swear words under his breath as he stiffly trudges though the mud.

“Heh, he looks like a toddler learning how to walk,” I.N. snickers, bringing a smile to Minho’s face. “Well, rest here, Lee Know! Maybe by the time you’re feeling better, J.One and I will have taken all the glory!”

The boy transforms back into a fennec fox and bounds away. He races towards J.One and pulls him out of the mud just as the villain gets up and throws another attack at them.

“Thanks, I.N.,” Jisung says, still clinging onto I.N.’s back as the younger hero races through the mud, faster than it can grab at him.

“No problem. Treat me to lunch sometime,” I.N. replies, suddenly switching directions and running head on towards the villain.

“This fight doesn’t involve you, fox boy,” the villain shouts, lashing his arms out to the side. Two giant waves of mud start to close in on them, like a tunnel with walls caving in.

Without stopping, I.N. grabs Jisung and launches him forward into the air, shouting, “The name’s I.N.! Any fight with my friends is a fight with me!”

Jisung’s body slams into the villain’s just as the mud waves collapse over I.N. Struggling to get to his feet, Jisung immediately begins his assault on the villain, throwing punches as fast and as precisely as he can. He doesn’t have the time to worry about I.N., only to trust that the younger hero will be all right. Sure enough, he soon hears a loud squelching noise from behind him, along with I.N.’s distinct voice loudly proclaiming, “Ew, it’s everywhere!”

Jisung uses that as slight motivation to swing a faster punch at the villain.

“Are these the moves you used to defeat Levanter?” the villain taunts, parrying one of Jisung’s punches. “It’s just like they said then; Levanter must’ve only pretended to give himself up to plot something while he’s imprisoned.”

 _You’re not wrong_ , Jisung thinks, remembering how easily Minho had given up during their fight when he’d realized Jisung’s attempt to capture him wasn’t making his quirk go out of control. _But you’re not right either. Levanter’s literally right there._

He spares a glance at Minho, who hasn’t moved since I.N. had left him. Jisung dodges to the left and swings his fist towards the villain’s side, only barely grazing him. Jisung hisses, “Why are you so obsessed with Levanter?”

“You think you heroes are the only people who can worship and praise those who reach the top? Levanter’s reputation as a villain is far greater than you heroes could possibly understand. He faked his way to become the prime hero of his time just to betray all of your expectations. Can you imagine the despair he must’ve caused? The horror? That any one of society’s precious heroes could turn on them just like that?”

Jisung raises an eyebrow. He shrugs and lunges forward, saying simply, “Sorry, can’t relate.”

That successfully ticks the villain off, who’s a little slow dodging Jisung’s attack. Jisung’s punch slams into the villain’s face, and he stumbles back, spitting out blood. “Then you’re a fool, J.One. Chan is right to be scared of the aftermath of Levanter’s arrest. Wonderland is on the rise, and they won’t stop until they’ve built a utopia for the freedom of our quirks!”

Wonderland? Jisung shelves that thought to the back of his mind to bring up to Chan later and runs in close to the villain to jab a punch at his chest. “Sounds like a cult to me.”

The villain stumbles backwards and furiously swipes an arm in front of him. Mud slams into Jisung and pushes him into the ground. The villain towers over him, sneering, “Your opinion means nothing. Sacrifices are needed to make the world see just how futile it is to regulate our quirks, and who better to crush first than you, J.One, the hero society thinks bested Levanter, and that imposter hero Lee Know, who’s been given the stamp of approval by the nation’s greatest hero?”

“You’re really placing way too much importance on Lee Know. He’s just a bumbling fool for cats,” Jisung manages to snort before the villain slams a foot down onto his chest. He gasps in pain, though silently grateful he doesn’t hear anything break.

Just as the villain raises his foot again, Jisung watches from the corner of his eye as I.N. shakes off some mud and takes a flying leap from where he’d been standing, slamming into the villain head on.

I.N. triumphantly wrenches Jisung from the mud, shouting, “Yeah, pay more attention to who you’re actually fighting, mud man!”

The villain is slow to get up, but the fire doesn’t die from his eyes. He sends a spiraling wave of mud at them again, shouting, “Fine then! I’ll make an example out of you both! No one can defeat me as long as you’re in my territory!”

Jisung and I.N. separate, running as the villain sends one mud attack after another at them. The mud overall has less of a hold on their feet, but the villain’s attacks are still making it impossible for either hero to near him.

“Lee Know!” Jisung shouts desperately, not even having the time to spare Minho a glance. “Do something!”

The villain sneers. He lifts both arms up and a towering wave rises from the mud with a disgusting squelch. As the wave comes crashing towards him and I.N., Jisung’s heart sinks, and he grits his teeth, bracing for the worst.

* * *

On the outskirts of the fight scene, a news team sets up, broadcasting live footage of the fight.

“This is District 9 News. We are currently reporting on the scene of a villain who appeared suddenly today in the middle of Miroh Street, just two blocks down from 3RACHA agency. On the scene, we have J.One and I.N. currently engaged in combat with the villain, who seems to have appeared in response to the recent news about Lee Know, the newest hero to join 3RACHA agency.”

The camera pans away from the fight, to where the hero Lee Know is still standing, huddled in I.N.’s signature fur coat. His face is turned away from the camera, tilted downwards like he’s staring at the ground, deep in thought.

“The hero in question is also on the scene, though he seems to have been taken out of the fight. Could it be that our beloved hero Chan has made a misjudgment—Wait, zoom in closer.”

The camera zooms in just as Lee Know takes off the blanket of fur from his shoulders, folds it neatly and sets it on the ground. He fishes around his pockets for something and pulls out…

“Is that his phone? What—he appears to be putting on headphones as well. Is he playing music? Just what is he…”

The reporter falls silent as Lee Know’s posture shifts. He starts walking forward to the beat of a song only he can hear, and then, he begins to dance.

* * *

Jisung hears it before he sees it.

He turns his head just in time to see Minho reach towards the sky with one arm, a tidal wave rising behind him with a roar. Minho falls to his knees, and the wave surges down in an arc over Minho’s head and start rushing in their direction. Alarmed, Jisung braces himself for the impact, but it never comes. Instead, the roar of the waves surround him but leave him untouched, making it feel like he’s been transported to an ocean floor with walls of water swirling around him.

When the water subsides, disappearing into the gutters, the mud is mostly gone. The villain alone barely manages to save himself with a hastily thrown up mud shield, but other than that, he’s lost most of the available mud he can use to fight. One glance around the street finds I.N. similarly untouched and dry.

“Get him now!” Minho shouts, and Jisung casts him a glance. Minho’s still on the side, breathing heavily. His face looks a little pale from this distance, but Jisung just gives Minho a nod. He knows his priorities. Take down the villain. There’s plenty of time later to worry.

Jisung and I.N. start running towards the villain almost instantaneously. Now that there’s no mud left to slow them down, Jisung easily dodges the villain’s feeble attack as he makes the mistake of trying to attack both heroes at once. I.N. lands the first punch, knocking the villain towards Jisung. Before the villain can find his balance, Jisung skids to a stop and slams his open palm into the villain’s face.

“Just sleep already,” Jisung hisses as his eyes glow red. The villain’s eyes widen for an instant, and then they roll back into his head, fully unconscious.

“Nice job,” I.N. says breathlessly, holding a hand out that Jisung high-fives tiredly.

“You too,” Jisung says, breathing heavily. Suddenly remembering to be worried, he glances over at Minho, who gives him a weak thumbs up before stumbling forward.

Jisung doesn’t know how he’s able to run so fast, but he’s by Minho’s side in an instant, holding him up in his arms. “You okay?”

“Just overexerted myself a bit,” Minho hoarsely whispers, his fingers tightly clenched around Jisung’s arms. “Good job making the final blow.”

“It’s all thanks to you.” Jisung helps Minho find his balance back on his two feet. “That was one ridiculous wave though. Did you really manage to summon that just by dancing?”

Minho falls quiet. A small, sad smile appears on his face, as he shakes his head softly. “A little, but not really. That villain, he kept talking about Levanter, and I just got frustrated with myself. After I.N. helped me calm down though, I started wondering where I could put those feelings to use, and that’s when I remembered this song.”

Minho holds out his phone. On the glowing screen, a single song is playing on repeat, faintly audible through his headphones.

“Levanter,” Jisung reads quietly.

“Chan made this song for me back in the day, and I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it again until today. I was going to make a dance to perform at a showcase celebrating myself first anniversary as a pro hero, but… I never made it that far.” Minho sounds bitter as he hacks out a cough. He laughs mirthlessly, “Well, at least I could put it to use here. I guess the dance I made went well with expressing my feelings about the situation.”

Something about the way Minho is still smiling despite the pain in his eyes makes Jisung break. He pulls Minho into a tight hug before he can stop himself, patting him gently on the back. Not knowing what to say, he quietly murmurs, “You did good.”

Minho hesitates before giving Jisung a tight squeeze back, whispering a muffled thanks into Jisung’s shoulder and breaking free. He claps Jisung on the shoulders again for good measure, a genuine smile returning to his face.

“Hey you two! Come here to get interviewed!” I.N. yells out to them, waving towards the reporters that have flooded the scene just beyond the barrier, all cameras trained on them. Meanwhile, the police handcuff the villain and carry his unconscious body off into a police car, the streets still littered with patches of mud.

“Not too bad for our first villain,” Minho comments.

“Could’ve gone better.”

“It worked out in the end, so I think we can give ourselves credit,” Minho laughs as the two of them head off to where the reporters are waiting.

Jisung can’t help but feel anxious. It’s easier to fight villains than to talk to reporters. He wonders if his anxiety shows on his face, because Minho places a supportive hand firmly on his back.

“Let’s go get some coffee after this. I could use a good break.”

Jisung smiles up at him, feeling warmth spreading through his body from the area of his back where Minho’s hand is. “Your treat?”

Minho makes a face and keeps pushing Jisung towards the reporters, but he ends up smiling anyways. “Yeah. My treat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Yang Jeongin  
> Hero Name: I.N.  
> Agency: Dawn  
> Blood Type: A  
> Quirk: Fennec Fox  
> Description: He can transform any part of his body into that of a fennec fox’s, which gives him great hearing, enhanced mobility, and even a protective fur coat that he can shed to keep others warm. Overusing his quirk turns him into affection-craving fennec fox for the rest of the day. Powerful and cute!


	6. Let's Get Steak

When Jisung and Minho return to the agency, Chan is sitting behind his desk, still buried under paperwork. He looks up and immediately his face brightens. “Hey, I saw the news! Good job taking out that villain!”

“Heh, it was a piece of cake,” Jisung brags, waltzing over to Chan and nearly spilling some of his iced americano on himself.

“I was talking to our new hero Lee Know,” Chan teases. Jisung sets his coffee down and dramatically falls into a seat next to Chan, whining until Chan praises him too with a pat on the head.

“Seriously though,” Chan continues, turning to Minho, who’s hanging back, slurping his drink intently. “I know I’m being tough on you for suddenly making you use your quirk properly, but you did much better than I expected.”

Minho looks up, his cheeks slightly puffed out with a mouthful of his coffee. He gulps it down and brightly smiles back. “I know I’m that awesome.”

Jisung expects Chan to cheekily bring Minho down a peg, but he’s surprised by the fond smile on Chan’s face as he shakes his head. “You really haven’t changed.”

Minho smirks back, though there’s an equally fond look on his face. His eyes fall on Jisung, and he adds, “But really, it’s all thanks to Jisung. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Jisung feels his cheeks start to burn. He quickly grabs his drink and starts slurping it loudly, pushing his rolling chair away towards Changbin’s desk, where the paperwork can hide him. Chan laughs out loud at his embarrassment as Minho bemusedly follows his movement across the floor.

“Back to business though. Give me a report on what happened. The news didn’t catch it, but it looked like the villain had a lot to say to you, Jisung.”

“Ah right.” Jisung peeks out from behind Changbin’s paperwork. “He went on a long rant about how great Levanter was as a villain. From the sound of it, there’s some group called Wonderland that’s trying to build off his arrest to spur villains into action. Something about creating a society where we can freely use our quirks?”

The room falls silent, broken on by the obnoxious sound of Jisung slurping his americano.

“Well, this worse than I thought,” Chan says, pressing a hand to his forehead. “I don’t think I’ve heard the group Wonderland before. If their focus is to essentially free our quirks though… Minho, what do you think?”

“I think,” Minho says emphatically, blowing bubbles into his coffee, “that these villains are idiots, and I’m going to kill them.”

Chan rolls his eyes as Jisung peeks nervously from where he’s still hiding, wary of the simmering anger behind Minho’s expression. Minho continues, “Seriously. I lose control of my quirk, and now there’s some villain group thinking they’ll put me on a pedestal and declare they’ll make a world where these villains can do as they please? No one in their right mind would submit to that, or even believe we’re better off unleashing our quirks at each other whenever we want. The only way that might even happen is, I don’t know, if everyone just collectively lost control of their quirks so it’d become impossible to regulate them…”

Minho snaps his eyes towards Chan, whose expression has turned serious. Minho asks, “Wait, you don’t think this Wonderland group is the same that might’ve…”

“Made the virus thing that made you lose control?” Chan completes. “It’s too early to say, but from what you just theorized, I wouldn’t rule out that possibility.”

Minho turns his eyes to his coffee. Uncomfortable with the silence, Jisung brightly says, “Hey, isn’t that a good thing? We’ll just track down Wonderland and get our revenge on them once and for all!”

Jisung spins his chair around too hard, and he crashes heavily into Changbin’s desk, sending paper flying everywhere. Minho bursts out laughing as Chan scolds, “Jisung, what did I tell you about being careful in the office?”

“Just tell Changbin a bird flew in and ruined his stuff,” Jisung pouts, leaping quickly off of his seat and hastening towards Minho. Before Chan can scold him further, Jisung grabs Minho and starts dragging him towards the exit. He yells, “We’re getting dinner! I’m starving!”

Chan audibly sighs and calls out, “Jisung, wait. Felix was here a few days ago, right? He called again today, wanting to talk but I haven’t been able to follow up with him. Do you mind grabbing dinner with him?”

“With my best friend? Of course I don’t mind!” Jisung eagerly says. He suddenly pauses to look at Minho. “Wait, am I bringing Minho with me?”

Chan purses his lips. “I’d rather not have too many people learning that Minho’s not actually in jail, but if it’s Felix… He’s been bugging me about Levanter for days, and it’s likely he’ll figure out Minho’s Lee Know eventually… He’d be helpful in finding out what Wonderland is too… Honestly, I suppose I’d rather we fill in Felix now before later. Who knows what kinds of trouble and information he’ll spread trying to figure out what we did with Levanter?”

“So Minho’s coming?” Jisung reaffirms as he texts Felix, _Wanna get dinner?_

“What do you think, Minho?” Chan asks.

“Should I be going outside so easily?” Minho replies, looking down at his feet.

As if sensing his hesitation, Chan says, “Well, if you’re going to stay here, I might as well ask you about what happened to my very nice office couch…”

“You know what, I think I’ll get food after all!” Minho declares, pointedly ignoring the burnt remains of the couch that had been forgotten till now. He doesn’t see the smile Chan gives him as he asks Jisung, “What were you going to eat?”

Jisung is busy texting Felix, who’s just replied with _Now?_

He makes the mistake of saying, “Whatever you want.”

“Let’s get steak then. I could do with some meat,” Minho says with a wide grin.

Jisung hurts inside at the thought of the dent steak will make on his wallet. He shakes his head and texts back, _Yeah. Meet me at the steakhouse near your place. I’m bringing a friend!_

He shuts his phone off and drags Minho out the door. “See ya, Chan!”

Chan picks up a piece of paper that Jisung must’ve stepped on at one point from the floor. He rolls it up and throws it at Jisung’s back. “Get changed before you leave! And make sure Felix doesn’t tell anyone about your meeting!”

* * *

After changing out of their hero costumes and cleaning up all the mud off themselves, Jisung and Minho finally set out to get an early dinner. Jisung has a cap on, his jacket hood over his head as he strolls down the streets. Minho is back in casual clothes, wearing a bucket hat on his head and a black face mask to hide his face. They’re unrecognizable to the public, just two young adults hastening down the streets blending into the evening rush hour, and as much as Jisung loves the spotlight, he’s glad for the privacy.

“So who’s Felix?” Minho asks, glancing at his reflection and fixing his bangs as they wait for a stoplight to turn green.

“He’s my best friend from school,” Jisung explains. “We transferred to JYP High around the same time and kind of just bonded as the new kids. He’s from Australia, just like Chan.”

“Australia,” Minho repeats, looking thoughtful. “I think I have a cousin who lives there. Wonder how he’s doing.”

Jisung shrugs. He suddenly recalls how Felix had come running to find Minho the day he was captured. He says, “That reminds me. Felix seems to know you? He wanted to talk to you earlier, so I guess that’s why Chan’s letting Felix in on the secret.”

He pulls Minho along to cross the street when the light turns green. Minho is still airily staring at his surroundings. He says quietly, “The name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it… Maybe when I see him?”

“Maybe you’ve heard of his hero name? Awaken, the all knowing hero?” Jisung suggests. Minho shakes his head, his frown growing. Jisung continues, “Should’ve expected that. He’s not really a flashy hero. Either way, I’m sure you’ll get along well! Everyone loves Felix!” 

Jisung’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He glimpses at the text. His eyes blown wide, he brings the phone closer to his eyes as he stares at Felix’s response.

“What’s up?” Minho asks, indiscreetly trying to look at Jisung’s phone screen.

“He wants to bring Seungmin,” Jisung sighs exasperatedly, furiously typing, _Can’t you bring him a different day?_

“Who’s Seungmin?” Minho asks as Felix’s reply comes just as quick. Jisung glares at Felix’s response.

_I made plans with Seungminnie first. Unless you want to reschedule?_

Jisung sighs. He wants to give Felix the chance to catch up with Minho, given how desperately his friend had wanted to talk to him, but he also doesn’t think Chan would appreciate someone else learning about Minho’s freedom.

Then again, it _is_ Seungmin. It’s been a while since they met, and if anyone can keep a secret, it’s him…

“Who’s Seungmin?” Minho asks again, prodding at Jisung with one finger, stirring the boy out of his thoughts.

“Another friend of mine,” Jisung says, staring down at Felix’s text. “Do you think we’ll be fine if he joins?”

“I don’t know. They’re your friends,” Minho says. “Do you trust them?”

Jisung doesn’t even have to think for a response. He smiles, “I’d trust them with my life.”

* * *

When they arrive at the steakhouse, a familiar figure with fluffy brown hair is waiting for them by the door.

“Seungmin!” Jisung shouts, running and waving at his friend. Seungmin turns with a bright smile, waving excitedly back, reminding Jisung of an excited puppy.

“Jisung! It’s been so long!” Seungmin exclaims, high-fiving Jisung. “I can’t believe it took you getting dinner with Felix for us to meet up again!”

“It’s only been about two weeks,” Jisung protests, though he can’t deny he’s glad to see Seungmin again. Seeing Seungmin and his smile always manages to brighten his day, and it’s worth risking Chan’s wrath to meet up with two of his favorite people.

“Who’s that behind you?” Seungmin asks, finally noticing Minho, who’s hanging back.

“Ah, that’s…” Jisung falters, realizing he hasn’t thought out how much of Minho’s identity he wants to reveal to Seungmin.

“Lee Know,” Minho confidently replies, holding a hand out in greeting. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same,” Seungmin replies, shaking his hand. “I saw your guys’ fight earlier. Your quirk’s amazing!”

“It’s okay,” Minho says shortly, though he’s smiling.

“Anyways, Felix said he’d be a while, so let’s head inside first, shall we?” Seungmin says, turning to Jisung to lead the way. Jisung sighs and leads them to the hostess. He’s aware of Seungmin’s confusion when Jisung asks the hostess to give them a private room for four, but he’s glad Seungmin saves his questioning till the hostess has left them and shut the door behind her.

“What’s with the privacy?” Seungmin questions.

“Just a precaution,” Minho covers up for Jisung, lying easily. “I’ve got to protect my identity and all.”

Seungmin nods, but he’s eyeing Minho’s covered face with an analytical expression that makes Jisung nervous. “So, are you going to take that off? Or am I not supposed to be in on the secret?”

Jisung glances over at Minho. He knows he said he trusted Seungmin, but now he’s wondering if this was all just a bad idea. Minho studies Seungmin from underneath the rim of his bucket hat and suddenly laughs out loud. “Do I really need to take it off? You’ve figured me out already, haven’t you?”

Seungmin just smiles cryptically. “Have I? For all I know, I’m just being unnecessarily suspicious.”

Minho’s eyes crease as his hidden smile widens. He glances at Jisung and says, “Well, Jisung did say he’d trust his friends with his life, and given that I’ve trusted Jisung with mine, I’d like to trust you too, Seungmin.”

Minho pulls his face mask down so that it’s hanging under his chin. He breathes in heavily. “Wow it’s so much easier to breathe now.”

Seungmin simply turns his eyes from Minho to Jisung. “I’m assuming this is all a secret I’m not technically privy to, but one I’ve got to keep?”

“Pretty please,” Jisung says, pressing his hands together. “Preferably a secret from Chan that you know too.”

“My lips are sealed,” Seungmin smiles, turning his attention back to Minho, who’s kept his bucket hat on in case the hostess or waiter randomly comes in. He says, “I have to say, I never thought this would be how I would meet the great hero Levanter.”

“Please, just call me Minho. How did you figure it out so easily, anyways?” Minho asks, a humorous smile on his face.

“I’ll admit, it’s only because I overheard Felix muttering that he couldn’t believe Chan didn’t let him in on his plans for Levanter. He said this right when Chan was introducing Lee Know as a hero, so I started to wonder about it. Of course, your quirk being different threw me off, but seeing how nervous you were, Jisung, and how secretive you both were being about your identity, I couldn’t help but assume.”

Jisung raises his eyebrows while making a face. “Wait, does that mean Felix has already guessed Lee Know’s identity?”

Seungmin grins back. “Jisung, you’re talking about Felix here. He’s literally the smartest person ever.”

“You’re just biased because he’s your boyfriend,” Jisung huffs.

Seungmin rolls his eyes. “Sure, maybe I’m biased, but Felix literally has a quirk that tells him anything and everything about what he’s looking at. A cloak and a mask aren’t going to stop him from recognizing the person he’s been searching for for so long.”

Jisung supposes that’s true, though Minho’s eyes have slowly narrowed throughout their conversation.

Minho asks, “Wait, this quirk you’re talking about… Does this Felix you’re talking about happens to have a third eye?”

Jisung and Seungmin look towards Minho in surprise. Jisung starts, “Yeah, how did you—”

The door slams open.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Felix shouts, bent over, gasping for air so that only his blond hair is visible above the table. “You guys didn’t wait long right?”

“You’re fine,” Jisung laughs, Minho’s comment now forgotten. “Good timing actually. Now that you’re here, we should order food!”

“Great, I didn’t miss anything then!” Felix grins, standing up straight. His eyes glance over the room, his smile widening at the sight of Seungmin and Jisung before suddenly doing a double take. His eyes fall on Minho, who stares back with an equally dumbfounded look.

“Minho?” Felix breathes out, his voice barely a whisper.

“Yongbokkie?” Minho asks, his eyes wide.

Jisung and Seungmin look at each other. They echo in unison, “Yongbokkie?”

“Ah, I guessed right then. That’s why the name Felix was so familiar and why you said Felix knows me!” Minho exclaims, turning to Jisung excitedly. “We’re cousins! I could never pronounce Felix when I was a kid, so I just called him his Korean name, Yongbok.”

Felix doesn’t share Minho’s excitement. His eyes never leaving Minho, he suddenly slams the door shut and brings a hand to his forehead.

“Felix,” Jisung starts, getting up. “Wait, I can explain…”

Felix brushes back his bangs. His third eyes opens, a shocking blue color in the middle of his forehead. Felix’s normal two eyes begin to glow the same color, all three trained on Minho, who sits there quietly, looking at the clock in the room. After five minutes pass, Minho gets up and says, “Okay, I think you’ve seen enough.”

He places a hand over Felix’s third eye. Felix gasps like he’s coming up for air, and his two eyes blink back to their usual shade of warm, dark chocolate. His eyes suddenly start to water, and he throws himself at Minho, pulling him into a tight hug.

“I can’t believe it. I was so scared I would never see you again,” Felix admits, his face still buried in Minho’s chest.

“I didn’t expect to see you like this either,” Minho replies, rubbing comforting circles into Felix’s back. “What are you even doing here in Korea? Jisung said you’re a pro hero now?”

Felix finally lets go. He fiddles with the edge of his shirt and doesn’t meet Minho’s eyes. “After the news that you’d become a villain, I couldn’t stand being in Australia any longer. I convinced my parents to let me come to Korea, hoping that if I became a hero here, I’d be able to find you again and learn the truth.”

Jisung catches Seungmin discreetly reach out and hold onto Felix’s trembling hands. Felix squeezes Seungmin’s hand back and finds the courage to look up at Minho. He continues, “I know you always said I should only become a hero to help the people, but I’m glad I came here. I learned so much about what it means to be a hero, and I wouldn’t have met the friends I have now without coming here.”

Minho stares at Felix for a long time before finally, he lets out a sigh. He places his hand gently on the top of Felix’s head and says, “I don’t approve that you ended up becoming a hero for my sake, but you should be proud of yourself. I’m sure you’re doing a great job as a hero.”

Felix’s mouth widens into a smile as Jisung says, “He’s doing an amazing job. You should just see the amount of fans he has waiting outside his agency every day.”

Felix laughs at that. “Please, I’m sure most of them are just there to get a glimpse of Hyunjin more than anything else.”

“Hyunjin?” Minho echoes. He perks up. “Do you mean Hwang Hyunjin? Did he become a hero too?”

Jisung and Felix turn to Minho, looking surprised. Seungmin alone doesn’t look phased as he casually replies, “Yeah. You should meet up with him sometime. He’d be glad to know you’re not actually in jail.”

“Speaking of jail, Chan really bailed you out then?” Felix asks, turning to Minho. “And the hero, Lee Know, that’s really you too?”

“Yep. Long story short, Chan abused his power as the No. 1 Hero and employed me as his new worker,” Minho laughs. As Felix nods in understanding, the sound of a stomach growling echoing through the room.

Jisung sheepishly scratches the back of his head. “Sorry, but it’s been a while since I last ate. We can catch you guys up to speed later, but let’s order some food first!”

“Can’t argue with that,” Minho laughs as he and Felix take their seats. “I’m starving. Let’s get some steak!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Lee Felix (That’s me!)  
> Hero Name: Awaken  
> Agency: Dawn  
> Blood Type: AB  
> Quirk: 3rd Eye  
> Description: By opening the third eye on my forehead, I can see and know everything that’s in front of me. I can use it to predict a person’s attack, see their weaknesses, their mental and physical states, even use it to solve math equations. Used it to cheat on a calculus test once. ~~Maybe more than once.~~


	7. If There’s a Shadow, There Must be Light

“So, what you’re saying is there’s some evil organization called Wonderland, and they might be the ones responsible for turning Minho into a villain?” Felix asks, stabbing down at his steak a little too forcefully.

Jisung nodes, chewing through his food. “That villain we fought today sounded pretty intent on making an example out of us. It’s worrying that we haven’t heard about them before, so we wanted to ask if you could look into that for us indiscreetly.”

“Of course,” Felix nods. “If it’s got anything to do with Minho, I’d be more than happy to help.”

Minho scowls and flicks a napkin at Felix. “Don’t say that. I’m still not happy that you came to Korea for me, and I don’t need you running around trying to deal with my problems.”

Felix chews thoughtfully. He swallows and says, “Fine. I’m doing this to protect society, and you can’t stop me.”

Minho’s mouth falls slightly open as Felix stares defiantly back. Looking like he’s still slightly in shock, Minho suddenly cuts out a piece of his steak. He’s smiling again when he holds out the piece to Felix, who promptly eats it with a grin.

“I wonder who taught you to be so cheeky,” Minho laughs.

Felix grins back, looking over at Seungmin and Jisung. “What can I say? I have good friends.”

Minho turns on Jisung sharply, a teasing glint in his eyes as he brandishes his fork at him. “So it’s your fault my baby cousin isn’t listening to me anymore.”

“It’s not just me!” Jisung protests, but he quickly shuts up when Minho smiles at him and stabs his fork into another piece of meat. He holds it up towards Jisung.

“For being a good friend to Felix.”

“Stop being embarrassing,” Felix whines as he turns to Seungmin, who affectionately lets Felix bury his face into his chest. Jisung gleefully chomps down on the meat offered to him without hesitation, gulping it down quickly, and immediately opens his mouth for more. Minho’s eyes widen, but he willingly begins to cut another piece of steak. He cheekily dangles it in front of Jisung before eating it himself.

“Hey!” Jisung pouts as Seungmin and Felix burst into laughter. 

“You deserve that for being greedy,” Seungmin snickers.

Jisung sticks his tongue out at his friend and tries to kick him under the table. Seungmin avoids it easily and takes the chance to steal some food off of Jisung’s plate. Before Jisung can protest, Seungmin feeds it to Felix and says, “Anyways, this Wonderland sounds dangerous. You two should be careful. If what you heard is true, they’ll probably come for you again.”

Jisung isn’t paying enough attention. He’s distracted by Minho, who has cut another piece of his steak and is holding it out to Jisung again. When Jisung moves his face closer to eat it, without breaking eye contact, Minho moves his fork away just before Jisung can bite down on it.

Jisung glares at Minho, who grins back. JIsung finally replies to Seungmin, “Isn’t it better if they come attack us? We’ll just defend against them all and wait for them slip up and reveal more information.”

Seungmin shakes his head, though he smiles when, for the third time, Minho holds his food out for Jisung and properly feeds him this time.

“I’d be careful, Jisung. If you’re fighting something you can’t see, it might strike you at any moment, maybe even before you can notice it.”

* * *

“Let’s eat with Felix and Seungmin sometime again. I really enjoyed that,” Minho comments.

Jisung grins back at him. They’re heading back to the agency, having bid Felix and Seungmin good-bye back at the restaurant. Felix had promised to look into the Wonderland for them, and hand in hand, he and Seungmin waved goodbye and walked off. Jisung had felt a little sheepish at the sight. He wonders if maybe he’d just interrupted their original plans for a date, though he’s glad Minho and Felix had gotten a chance to talk again.

“I’m sure they’d be happy to meet up again,” Jisung replies. 

“Felix works with Hyunjin right? Are you guys friends? You should call him up next time too,” Minho cheerily says, pushing his bucket hat down a little every time they pass by people.

Jisung makes a face. Minho sees it and laughs, “What, do you not get along with him?”

“What, no,” Jisung starts before huffing. “Well, at first I didn’t, but he’s been gaining a lot of popularity lately, especially with his looks.”

“Ah, he must not be happy with that,” Minho off-handedly comments. Jisung turns to him with wide eyes.

“How did you know that?”

Minho shrugs. “I’ve known him for a while, though the last time we talked was maybe when he first started high school? He’s always hated when his hard work gets ignored for his looks.”

“Well, you’re right. He comes by to the agency sometimes to rant whenever he hears that people were dismissing his popularity again, saying it’s only because he’s got a bunch of fangirls enamored with his looks.”

“Why would he come to your agency though?” Minho asks.

“I know right?” Jisung exclaims in an exasperated tone. “His best friend’s Seungmin after all, and they're right there, working together at the same agency, and yet Hyunjin still likes coming to 3RACHA. I mean, he’s a good friend to me now, and I’m more than happy to listen to his problems, but I don’t see why he feels the need to come visit us so often.”

“Maybe you’re actually helpful?”

Jisung rolls his eyes, but he suddenly looks thoughtful. “Ah, well, I’m probably not, but I guess Changbin’s good at listening to his problems. He gives good advice, and Hyunjin always looks happy to hear it, I guess.”

“Sounds like Changbin,” Minho mumbles, a small smile momentarily appearing on his face. 

Jisung can sense the hint of affection in Minho’s tone. He can’t help but ask, “So how do you know Changbin exactly?”

“Ah, it's probably not on my file, but I went to the same high school as you guys,” Minho replies. “I was friends with Chan, and he ended up befriending Changbin, so we got introduced to each other too. It’s hard to believe he’s got such a dark image now though. He used to like acting cute towards me so much.”

“He still acts cute sometimes,” Jisung snorts, suddenly recalling the few times Changbin chooses to “terrorize” his friends with his cute faces and baby voice.

“I miss seeing him like that,” Minho quietly admits. “It was fun babying each other and joking around like that.”

Jisung doesn’t know how to respond to that. The nostalgic tone in Minho’s voice is obvious, but when Jisung thinks about how angry Changbin always looks nowadays, especially when Minho is in the room, he can’t even imagine a scene where Minho and Changbin might be acting cute towards each other.

They’re almost at the agency when Minho suddenly stops. Jisung follows his gaze to find Changbin, who has just stepped out of the building and is staring back at Minho with an icy look.

“Changbin! You’re heading home already?” Jisung says, hoping to lighten the mood.

Changbin turns towards Jisung at the sound of his name, and his expression immediately relaxes. He nods. “Yeah, I finished all my paperwork for once, no thanks to you.”

“What did I do?” Jisung exclaims.

Changbin raises an eyebrow. “You literally knocked all my work off my desk. Or did you forget already?”

“Ah.” Jisung suddenly recalls bumping into Changbin’s desk. He sticks close to Minho as he tries to change the subject. “That wasn’t really my fault. Anyways, did Chan fill you in?”

“About the villain you fought? Yeah, though we gotta work on your fighting technique sometime, Jisung. If it hadn’t been for I.N., that villain would’ve kicked your ass.”

“Hey! I’m still the one who took him out in the end!” Jisung protests, though he quickly pouts and stares down at the ground. “You’re right though. Minho said it too when we fought, but I guess I still have to improve my technique.”

“I did?” Minho says.

“Yeah. You said something about how I wasn’t good at fighting despite working with Chan.”

“Ah, I do remember saying that. I mean, it’s true. I would expect any hero under Chan’s leadership would at least be as good as he is in a fight.”

“Come on, no one can beat Chan in a one-on-one fight, and especially not once he’s all powered up!”

“Sounds like you’re making excuses,” Minho teases. Jisung puffs his chest out indignantly, but Changbin’s the one who responds instead.

“You sure talk a lot, for someone who until recently didn’t even bother to try and develop any fighting skills,” Changbin snaps, his eyes glinting underneath the setting sun. 

Minho’s expression darkens. 

“You’re really hung up on that, aren’t you, Changbin? Well, in case you’ve forgotten, I might not’ve developed my skills like you and Chan in terms of physical fighting, but you know very well I did my best to push the limits of the part of my quirk that I was willing to use. And now, thanks to Jisung, I’m actually trying to develop all of my quirk in a controlled manner. I can’t do anything to change the past, so I’d really appreciate it if you stopped trying to bring it up every other second and instead see that at least I’m trying to make amends.”

“Yeah, Changbin, I think I’m with Minho on this,” Jisung adds. “I don’t know what kind of history you two have, but you’ve been really mean lately.”

Changbin turns on Jisung, scowling at the younger boy. “You’re seriously taking his side? After all you used to say about Levanter? How you hated that people wanted to forgive him because he was good-looking and such a big hero, and how you’d never forgive someone who’d harm the people who trusted him?”

“That was when we didn’t know the truth!” Jisung shouts back, his hands curling into fists. “Of course I wouldn’t forgive a villain that easily, but we know the truth Changbin! Do you really think it’s fair of you to keep blaming someone for something they couldn’t control?”

“He still hurt people,” Changbin spits out bitterly. “People have died because of him.”

Minho visibly flinches at his words, all anger and fight sapped out of his face. Jisung feels his blood boiling as he steps closer towards Changbin, partly shielding Minho from view. “And I haven’t forgotten that either. But I’ve spent less than a week with Minho, and even I’m willing to bet that no one is suffering from that fact more than Minho himself. Those people won’t ever come back, but as heroes, don’t you think the least we can do is support the trust Chan placed in Minho to make things right again?”

Changbin and Jisung glare at each other, neither backing down as anger began to simmer inside them. What breaks the tension is instead Minho’s now quiet voice, as he says, “Look, I’m honored you’re fighting over me, but, Jisung, there’s really no point in getting angry for my sake. Changbin’s right. I ended up hurting people because I got overconfident that my quirk could protect me from everything. If I’d been able to properly get help…”

“But you said it yourself! You couldn’t! Whatever was infecting you was sentient enough to know when you tried to get help, and I can’t imagine how much losing control of your quirk might’ve affected you.”

“Exactly. You can’t imagine it. I doubt no one ever will be able to, unless they themselves go through what I did, which I would hope they never have to,” Minho replies. “What my intentions were, what the circumstances were, none of that matters. The fact remains that I committed crimes that should never be forgiven. Changbin, you’re perfectly justified in hating me after everything I’ve done. I won’t argue with that. But at least the very least, don’t let your anger cloud your judgment of others too.”

Changbin stands there, quietly staring at Minho before finally breaking eye contact and turning his eyes towards the ground. Quietly, he sighs, “I’m sorry, Jisung. Minho’s right. I shouldn’t have let my anger out on you as well.” 

Jisung suddenly doesn’t know how to face Changbin, whose eyebrows are knit together, his eyes shaking as he stares uneasily at the pavement. He’s always remembered Changbin as a collected and confident upperclassman who so rarely showed his displeasure, much less troubled anyone with his problems. They’ve fought before, on the rare occasion, but Jisung’s never seen Changbin look so vulnerable.

“No, I’m sorry too. I also got too heated up,” Jisung apologizes. “It’s just, I know you’re always so kind, Changbin, and it’s not my business to pry, but lately, you’ve just been so—”

“THIEF!” 

The three heroes spin around in the direction of the scream, instincts kicking in. A woman is chasing after a man, who has a purse clutched tightly in his arms. He’s too busy looking behind him to notice that he’s approaching the three heroes.

“What an idiot,” Changbin mutters under his breath. “What kind of criminal steals in broad daylight right next to the biggest hero agency in the city?”

The thief finally notices them, but without showing any sign of recognition, he runs straight for them. He threatens, “Get out the way if you know what’s good for you!”

“Make me,” Jisung taunts loudly, and the thief’s eyes narrow in on him. 

“You asked for it, kid!” the thief sneers, running straight for Jisung. His arm shoots forward, stretching out like rubber, straight towards Jisung’s face.

“You’re really an idiot,” Changbin grumbles, stepping in just in time and knocking away the thief’s hand with his own. He kicks his foot out towards the thief. Changbin’s shadow immediately surges forwards along the pavement until it latches onto the shadow of the moving thief. The man falls face first into the pavement, his momentum sending him flying forward as his feet temporarily stick to the ground due to his shadow having been immobilized. For good measure, the shadows rise up off the ground and crash down on the thief, knocking him unconscious.

“That’s a new move,” Minho quietly comments.

“Contrary to tales like Peter Pan, people can’t actually leave their shadows behind,” Changbin explains monotonously. He’s glaring down at his hand, which now has a strange red mark on it, as if the thief’s hand had been covered in some red substance when Changbin had knocked it away from Jisung. He rubs most of it off on his pants. “Their shadows are literally the shape of themselves, and since I can control any shadows that mine touches, I can hold their shadows in place and force their bodies to obey the laws of physics and remain in place too. It’s weird.”

“Weird but cool,” Jisung supplements, and Changbin smiles. His shadow lifts itself off the ground and snatches the purse easily out of the thief’s hands. The woman comes running down the street, a look of relief on her face when she spots the trio.

“Thank you so much!” she says, bowing as Changbin’s shadow hands her purse over. “I’m so lucky heroes like you were nearby! You’re J.One, right? The one who took down Levanter?”

“Ah, yeah!” Jisung replies with a big smile. He’s wanted to become well-known for a while, but it’s weird now that people actually recognize him.

The woman turns to bow to Changbin and Minho too. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I know who you are.”

“That’s Lee Know,” Changbin waves towards Minho, who bows, careful to keep his face hidden from under his bucket hat and face mask. “I’m just a friend. It was all Lee Know’s hard work.”

Jisung and Minho turn to Changbin in surprise, but the woman doesn’t notice, bowing again enthusiastically. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without heroes like you!”

“Don’t worry about it, ma’am. We can handle it from here,” Changbin says, waving as the woman turns and leaves the trio with the unconscious thief. 

“Why didn’t she recognize you?” Minho questions. “You’re easily one of the top heroes in this city.”

“I prefer keeping my personal life out of my hero work,” Changbin shrugs. “Makes it easier for me to go about.”

“But are you sure? Letting me take credit for your work?”

Changbin rolls his eyes. “Stop being so formal, Minho. I’m still mad at you, but it’s like Jisung said. I trust Chan, and if he wants to build you up as a hero, it’s these little things that will help you get recognition. Besides, I can’t go and have people thinking that my dark alter ego SpearB would so eagerly take down every little petty thief.”

“Still…” Minho quietly protests, but he’s cut off by a loud groan. The thief shifts from where he’s still lying unconscious. Quickly, they tie him up and call the police before the thief can wake up. Jisung makes his nerves stay unconscious for a little longer, just for good measure. Soon, they can hear the sound of sirens in the distance, getting closer and closer.

“Well, I’ll leave it to you two then. I want nothing to do with this, so don’t mention me to the police,” Changbin sighs.

Jisung nods. He understands Changbin prefers to keep his reputation as a dark, brooding hero who only fights the most evil of villains. It makes him a controversial yet popular hero, criticized for not helping out with the average everyday crime and yet lauded for his powerful quirk and his ability to take down so many big-name villains. He doesn’t know why Changbin dislikes being known for the many times he’s taken out petty criminals, always giving up the credit to whatever hero happens to be passing by or just leaving the scene entirely. He claims it’s to preserve his dark aura, but whatever the real reason might be, Jisung knows better than to pry.

As Changbin turns to leave, Minho suddenly says, “You’ve improved a lot since we were in school together. You’ve really become a great hero, Changbin.”

Changbin freezes. His face is hidden from view, cast in shadow as the sun shines on his back, but his own shadow shakes slightly from where it’s been cast on the ground. He stiffly mutters, “You’re the last person I want to hear that from.”

He hastens off and quickly turns the corner, vanishing from view.

Jisung stares at Minho, who’s still looking at the place Changbin was last visible, expressionless. He says, “I’m sorry about Changbin’s attitude. I don’t why he’s been so moody lately.”

“It’s okay,” Minho says monotonously. “It’s not that I don’t understand. I’d be pissed too, if our positions were swapped.”

“Oh.” Jisung doesn’t know what he can say, when Minho turns his face away from him, trying to hide his gloomy expression. “Okay.”

The conversation dies like that, as the police arrive to take the thief away. After a lot of explaining, the heroes are finally free to go, and they head back to the agency, leaving their unexplained emotions behind in the shadows and missing the way the light illuminates a small, crooked smile that appears on the thief’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Seo Changbin  
> Hero Name: SpearB  
> Agency: 3RACHA  
> Blood Type: O  
> Quirk: Shadow Manipulation  
> Description: He can manipulate his own shadow as well as any other shadows that are connected to his own! His quirk is stronger the darker his shadow is, and he can use it to attack people or create barriers of darkness. That’s the dark hero for you!


	8. Too Many Thoughts

_Breaking News_

_Today at 8:01, a sudden attack occurred in the middle of JYP Plaza. As you can see in the footage, a woman unleashed her quirk on the public, injuring 9 people and causing destruction to the plaza. Luckily, our beloved hero TMT was quick to arrive at the scene and is currently fighting the villain. Providing you with live updates, we…”_

The moment the camera pans over to the face of the villain, Chan shuts the TV. Just at that moment, Jisung walks in, halfway through eating a breakfast sandwich. He catches the serious look on Chan’s face and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“We’re leaving, now,” Chan says, throwing Jisung’s hero costume at him. “There’s been an attack at JYP Plaza.”

“Ah, I saw that news,” Jisung says, even as he juggling eating his breakfast with pulling on his hero costume. “Hyunjin is there already though, so why are we heading there?”

“That woman’s like Minho. She’s lost control of her quirk.”

Jisung freezes for a moment, before he stuffs the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and zips up his costume. Grabbing his mask, he runs out the office again, knowing Chan is right on his heels. As they sprint down the stairs to the garage, Jisung asks, “How can you tell?”

Chan doesn’t even hesitate when he replies, “She looked scared, like she wanted help.”

* * *

When they arrive at the scene in Chan’s car, a chorus of excitement runs through the crowd that has gathered.

"Look, it's Chan!"

"Chan's here!"

"Chan will take care of everything!"

Everyone's eyes are on Chan, bodies parting to make way for the No. 1 Hero. Chan doesn't acknowledge them. No one expects him to. His eyes are focused solely on the suffering civilian before him, his broad figure highlighted by the early morning sun. He commands attention and respect everywhere he goes, and his figure is an unspoken promise to the people, that everything will be alright, now that Chan is here. 

Jisung feels small by Chan's side, but amongst the excited chatter about Chan, Jisung catches whispers about J.One, enthused murmurings that "together they'll save the day." With the energy Chan's lent him thrumming beneath his skin, Jisung finds the courage to stand taller and smile.

TMT, or Hyunjin as Jisung knows him when he’s not on the job, is still on the scene, carefully surveying the enemy. The hero is dressed fancily in a beige trench coat with lots of pockets, complete with black dress pants that flare out at the cuffs and a white dress shirt with the top few buttons left undone. He looks like he’s just walked off a fashion runway, if not for the various plants and vines growing out of his pockets and the smears of dirt on his pretty face. Jisung thinks he’s looking quite leisurely for a hero in the middle of fighting a villain, but he supposes it’s typical of Hyunjin. Always composed on the job as a hero despite his carefree and easily startled personality.

Everyone has been evacuated a distance aways from JYP Plaza, which, once a beautifully built area, was now full of dents and holes, rubble scattered around the plaza. In the center, the woman is huddled next to the towering water fountain, her eyes darting from TMT to the newly arrived heroes.

“Oh, Chan, J.One, hi! SpearB’s not with you?” TMT asks when he sees them.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Jisung huffs, though there’s no bite to his remark.

Chan has to hold back an amused smile as TMT hastily says, “Nothing! Just curious. What are you guys here for?”

“I’m just here in case something goes wrong,” Chan says, his face recomposing into a serious expression as he looks towards the woman.

“Ah, it’s good you came then,” TMT replies. He tilts his head in the villain’s direction. “Her quirk only attacks if I get too close or attack her. The plants nearby were all saying how she suddenly unleashed her quirk out of nowhere, and given how scared she looks, I’d say that she’s not actually controlling her quirk right now.”

Jisung’s eyes widen. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d be able to come up with that so calmly.”

“Perks of working with a hero like Awaken,” TMT smirks in return. “I did have a plan to defeat her, but her quirk keeps destroying my plants before I can attack.”

“You need someone to help distract her then?” Chan says, catching on immediately.

TMT nods. “I know I’m probably not in the position to ask, but Chan, would you be able to help me?”

Chan grins back, holding out his hand to TMT. “Of course I will. The real question is, do you trust me?”

TMT smiles at that, reaching out to shake Chan’s hand. “Of course I trust you, Chan.”

A glowing circle of electric blue appears around Chan’s pupils, as their clasped hands glow the same color. When Chan takes his hand away, matching seals glow on the palms of their hands. Jisung stands back, as Chan and TMT step towards the woman.

The woman they're here for stares at them from the center of the plaza, a frightened, almost crazed look to her eyes. For some reason, she looks familiar to Jisung, but he can't quite place where he's seen her before. Chan stops about three meters from her, and quietly raises his hands.

"Do you think you can talk?" he calmly asks.

The woman nods, but takes a step back. "I didn't mean to do anything. I swear. You have to believe me. I'm not a villain."

Chan's expression doesn't change. He takes a step forward.

"No!" the woman screams but it's too late. The whites of her eyes turn black as cracks in the pavement began to appear at her feet. Jisung leaps back as a crack appears beneath his feet and the pavement shatters. Chan rushes forward, pulling back one hand and leaping into the sky, his impressive physical ability boosted by his quirk. His punches knocks back every piece of debris that flies his way. While the woman’s attacks concentrate on Chan, he shouts, “TMT! Now, while she’s distracted!”

TMT thrusts his hands forwards. Bullets of dirt mixed with seeds shoot out of the sleeves of his coat, latching into the ground. Vines immediately burst upwards, green tendrils immediately crisscrossing through the air to form arches over the woman’s head.

The woman starts to notice, but Chan immediately shouts, “Hey, focus on me!”

It’s less of a threat than a plea, words imbued with the calming power of the No. 1 hero. The woman turns her eyes towards Chan. There’s still fear in her eyes, but even Jisung can see the glimmer of hope as she turns her attention back to Chan, focusing hard to ignore the plants shooting out of the ground.

Jisung watches as the arches of vines above the woman’s head burst into bloom, exploding into beautiful streaks of red poppy flowers. Chan immediately pulls up the collar of his jacket, slapping a hand over his mouth to stop himself from breathing in the heavy smell of poppy flowers. The woman isn’t able to react as fast, and in moments, the woman begins to look drowsy, her body falling towards the floor. Chan catches her before she can hit the ground and gently lifts her body in his arms. Only when he raises a hand to give TMT the thumbs up do the vines immediately retract, leaving nothing behind but a field of scattered red petals amidst the roar of an excited crowd.

“Great work. Now, J.One, if you could please?” Chan calls Jisung over, who nods, knowing what Chan wants him to do. He places a hand over the woman’s, and closes his eyes. Having done this before, the second time is easier. He quickly finds the unnatural quirk blocking area in the woman’s body. It’s smaller and weaker than the thing that was inside Minho, so Jisung is able to extract it and quickly place it into another jar that Chan has prepared for the occasion.

TMT looks on, his eyes wide and his face contorted in a dramatic expression of disgust. “What in the world is that?”

Chan just shakes his head, carefully hiding the jar from the eyes of the reporters far in the distance. He stuffs the jar in his jacket pocket and whispers to TMT, “Meet us back at 3RACHA around 11, and bring the rest of Dawn with you. I think it’s time we worked together to take this threat seriously.”

TMT looks taken aback. His eyes glance towards Jisung questioningly, and Jisung just shrugs in return. It’s not the first time 3RACHA has worked with the hero agency Dawn, especially since they’re all friends, but Chan’s never acted so secretly about it before.

Finally, TMT straightens up. His eyes dart nervously towards the media still waiting a distance away, before quietly, he says, “I know I’m not in the position to ask, but, later, when we do meet… I want to ask you something, Chan, about Levanter.”

Chan’s expression is incredibly calm as he stares back at TMT. Slowly, he gets up onto his feet, dusting off his pants as he does.

“Fine, we’ll talk, but not here while we’re in public,” Chan replies, his expression softening a little when TMT breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’ll answer any questions you have later.”

“Great,” TMT smiles. He waves at a medic to come over to treat the unconscious woman, while responding quietly, “I’ll deal with the press then, so you guys can head back.”

“Cool, see you later then,” Chan says, but Jisung notices that TMT’s hesitating to ask another question.

“You need something else?” Jisung asks.

“Oh, well, um,” TMT’s eyes dart around, but eventually he shyly blurts out, “Will Changbin be there?”

Jisung is too busy rolling his eyes to notice the red blush that covers his friend’s cheeks. Chan is nicer about it.

“He has the day off,” Chan answers, smiling fondly at TMT, “but I’ll see if he can make it.”

TMT breaks into the widest smile before he bounds off towards the reporters, looking like a man who’d just won the lottery. Chan shakes his head, smiling after him. Jisung, however, has other thoughts on his mind.

“What does he want to ask about Levanter?” Jisung comments.

“Who knows?” Chan says, herding Jisung around so they can quickly leave the scene, “but Minho sure is popular, huh?”

Jisung narrows his eyes a little at Chan’s statement. He sounds casual enough, but there’s a strange bitterness to Chan’s tone that Jisung can’t quite place.

Jisung doesn’t mention it though. He’s more curious as to why TMT wants to talk to Chan about Levanter. At this point, every one of his friends seems to have known him in past, and they each seem to have unfinished business with Minho as well, which leaves one question.

Just what does TMT want with Levanter?

* * *

Back at the office, Jisung sits alone, staring at the clock and waiting for their guests to arrive. In the meantime, he can’t help but spend his time thinking about the fight from this morning.

Something is bothering Jisung. He feels like the woman he had to treat this morning looks familiar, but he can’t quite place where he’s seen her before. He meets hundreds of people throughout the day during his daily patrols, and meets even more people when he’s off-duty looking for food or shopping. He scrunches his face up, trying to search his memory.

“Long day?”

Jisung looks up at the sound of Minho’s voice, and the familiar sound of ice swirling about in a plastic cup. Minho smiles down at him and hands him the iced americano.

“Thought you might need the energy,” Minho says. Jisung thanks him and greedily gulps down the drink before realizing Minho doesn’t have a drink for himself.

“Did you go and buy this just for me?”

Minho shrugs. “I was just passing by a cafe, that’s all.”

Chan chooses that moment to walk in, shuffling folders in his hands, his curly hair looking disheveled. He spots Jisung and Minho and immediately asks, “Has anyone been able to contact Changbin?”

Jisung shakes his head. “I’ve called his cell and home phone a billion times but I couldn’t get a hold of him.”

Chan looks worried. “I know I gave him the day off, but it’s not like him to go off the grid.”

Jisung recalls how low energy Changbin has been over the last few days. He’s been grumpy as usual, but lately he’s acted more and more sullen rather than irritated. Just yesterday, Changbin nearly fell asleep at his desk waiting for any reports of villains to arrive, before deciding to ask Chan for the day off.

Jisung suggests, “Maybe he’s sick?”

Chan frowns. “We don’t have the time to check up on him right now, but if that’s the case, we’ll have to see how he’s doing later. I trust Changbin will be able to take care of himself for now. In the mean time, Minho, get dressed. The heroes from Dawn are coming over for the meeting, and while we’ve trusted Felix with your secret, we can’t have your identity revealed just yet.”

Jisung stays quiet. He wonders how Chan would react if he told him that Seungmin’s been accidentally let in on the secret as well…

Meanwhile, Minho just hums a yes in agreement before suddenly frowning. “Wait, what’s Dawn?”

“Oh, that’s Felix and Hyunjin’s agency,” Jisung answers. “They started it up together instead of joining one like I did, and eventually Seungmin and Jeongin joined them too. They’re not that well-known yet, but they’re really good at gathering info and working small scale cases…”

Jisung trails off when he sees the expression that appears on Minho’s face. He looks thoughtful, but hints of a simmering sullenness line his thinly pressed lips. He quietly murmurs to himself, as if forgetting Jisung’s presence, “So they named their agency Dawn…”

The silence that follows is quickly broken when Chan loudly clears his throat.

“Anyways, I’m going to go up ahead first then. Just bring them up with you when they arrive.”

“I know,” Jisung replies, but as he rolls his eyes, he catches Minho staring at Chan with a look Jisung can’t quite decipher.

Minho asks, “Do you need help setting up for the meeting?”

“I’m almost ready, so don’t worry about it,” Chan replies, though his eyes don’t quite meet Minho’s, and exits the room with a wave.

Minho continues to stare after him, before he shakes his head and goes to put on his hero costume. Jisung watches as Minho wraps his cloak dramatically around himself before he flops down onto the nearby couch, pulling out his phone, a glum expression still on his face..

“Is everything okay?” Jisung can’t help but ask.

Minho glances at Jisung briefly, pursing his lips. Finally, he asks in a hesitant tone, “Do you think Chan’s acting weird around me?”

Jisung frowns. “I… I don’t think so?”

“Really? I could’ve sworn—”

The door to the office suddenly creaks open. A gust of wind blinds Jisung temporarily as a deep voice calls out, “Anyone home—Oh, hey, Jisung!”

Felix bounds over and pounces on Jisung for a hug. “Who would’ve thought we’d meet again so soon!”

“It’s good to see you too, Felix,” Jisung grins back, indulging Felix in his hug. “You’re here early.”

“Yeah, I was in the area, so I thought I might as well head over here,” Felix replies. “The others should be here soon. Hyunjin seemed especially excited.”

“Really? Why?”

“My bet’s on him hoping Changbin will be around,” Felix snorts, his eyes sweeping around the room before he pauses in the direction of the couch. “He did mention wanting to talk with Chan about something to do with Levanter though. You have any ideas what he wants, Minho?”

Jisung follows Felix’s gaze. He’s surprised when he catches Minho poking his head out from behind the couch, his two eyes peering out at them from behind his blue bangs like a cat watching from the shadows.

“You need to learn to knock, Felix. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry, I’ll remember next time,” Felix laughs, looking quite delighted with himself for scaring Minho.

Minho scowls at his reaction. He walks over and also wraps his arms around Felix for a back hug, but it looks more like he’s trying to squeeze the life out of Felix more than anything. Felix only laughs harder, looking completely relaxed in Minho’s arms, and eventually, Minho cracks a smile.

“To answer your question, no, I don’t know what Hyunjin wants to talk about, but if it’s about Levanter, it can’t be anything good, right?” Minho finally says after letting Felix go.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Felix replies, smoothing out the folds in his shirt. “He really looked up to you too. We’ve both been doing our best to find you these past few years, you know.”

“I had the feeling that was the case,” Minho says, prodding Felix on the forehead. “Seriously, I can’t believe you guys named your agency Dawn.”

“What’s wrong with the name Dawn?” Jisung asks.

“It’s the name of a solo dance performance I did, right before I graduated high school,” Minho answers. “It was supposed to be my way of announcing the start of my hero career, so you might as well have been declaring to the world that you were searching for me by naming your agency Dawn. Seriously, you’re so lucky no one called you out for it.”

“Oh, they did,” Felix replies with a sly grin, “but you know me and Hyunjin. We’ve got our natural charms, and I played the foreigner card, and with our wonderfully made-up explanation of how the hope we’d bring everyone would be like the dawn of a new day, they accepted it eventually. You’re right though, Minho. We named it for you. I think a part of me was hoping you’d come across the name of our agency and realize we wanted to help.”

Minho’s expression softens ever so slightly as he ruffles Felix’s hair. “That’s sweet of you, to have kept believing in me. I’d like to believe I would’ve gone to find you guys, but unfortunately, I was doing my best to avoid any news about heroes.”

“That’s one thing I don’t understand. I still don’t how out of control your quirk was, but shouldn’t you have wanted to look for a hero who could help your situation?” Felix asks. “We searched for you for four years, Minho, and it was like you’d completely vanished. I know you didn’t want to hurt more people, but were you really that afraid of getting caught too?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Minho admits, his eyes drifting towards where Chan’s desk is, still piled high with paperwork. “If you want the short answer though, I think I was scared of facing Chan the most.”

“What? Chan?” Jisung and Felix exclaimed in unison. “Why would you be scared of him?”

“He’s scary when he’s mad.”

Minho tries to laugh it off, but his expression quickly turns somber. “Well, that’s true, but not really why I guess. I knew I could probably just find some abandoned area, reveal myself, and Chan would probably come along to defeat me, but I was scared to face him, just as I was scared of reading anything to do with him in the media. I didn’t want the confirmation that my best friend had completely lost faith in me.”

Jisung and Felix exchange glances, their expressions falling. Jisung’s been so caught up with getting to know Minho and worrying about Changbin’s behavior that he realizes he has in fact overlooked Chan.

Jisung hadn’t thought about it at much first. Chan had so readily worked to give Minho a second chance as a hero after all, but Jisung’s almost forgotten that at one point, back when Jisung was still in high school and Levanter had just become known as a villain, Chan was the one hero who’d denounced Levanter most harshly. In the years since, Chan has definitely mellowed out, but maybe Minho is right.

No matter how happy Chan looks to have Minho back as a friend, there’s no way they could brush away those years of animosity so easily.

“Well, now that you’re back as a hero,” Felix says, deliberating his words carefully, “I could ask Chan about why he didn’t believe you back then, if you want? That’s something I’ve wanted to ask him for a while now anyways. I know Chan’s a good person, but it never seemed right to me that the person you liked gave up so easily on you.”

Minho waves him off.

“It’s fine. I already know the answer to that question anyways,” Minho says. His smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but Jisung can tell it’s not a topic Minho wants to talk any more about, so instead, Jisung tries to think of something to change the topic.

Unfortunately for him, he’s distracted when his brain finally processes what Felix had just said, and Jisung blurts out, “Wait, did Felix just call Chan the person you liked?”

Minho freezes, his facial expression completely smoothing over like his entire body has just turned into a statue. He turns his head stiffly to stare at Jisung, who can’t help but laugh at the color that’s rising to Minho’s cheeks.

Minho rounds on Felix immediately.

“Felix! Why’d you say something like that?”

“Slip of the tongue, sorry!” Felix says, holding his hands up apologetically as he inches away from Minho to hide behind Jisung.

“So you had a crush on Chan?” Jisung says with an amused smile. He doesn’t care much about romance himself, but it’s amusing to see Minho look flustered when he’s normally so composed.

“Shut up, Han. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Minho mutters with a scowl.

“You’re not denying it.”

Minho pouts, looking away from Jisung for a long time, until he finally huffs indignantly.

“It doesn’t matter anyways. I’m over it, and it never would’ve worked out anyways.”

That makes Jisung frown. He wonders if maybe he’s crossed a line, but before he can apologize, the door opens a second time, welcoming two newcomers into the office.

One of them is Seungmin, who waves and then hurries over to Felix to give his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek as a greeting. The other is a boy just a little taller than Seungmin, with messy black hair, high cheekbones and a dazzling smile that widens when he spots Jisung and Minho.

“Lee Know! You’re really going all out to hide your identity, huh?” the boy exclaims with a laugh.

Minho glances at Jisung. “Who’s this kid?”

The boy pouts, though he’s quick to start smiling again. “You called me a kid last time too! It’s me, I.N.! You can call me Jeongin when I’m not in costume though.”

Minho’s mouth widens a little in recognition. “Oh, you’re the fox boy. I don’t think I had the chance to thank you for your help last time. You’re pretty powerful for such a young hero.”

Jeongin’s eyes sparkle at the praise. Before he can say anything though, Seungmin laughs, “I wouldn’t praise him too much though, or it’ll all go to his head.”

“Hey!” Jeongin turns to Seungmin and sticks his tongue out. “At least I’m going all out to use my quirk to help people, unlike a certain someone.”

Jisung sees Seungmin narrow his eyes, but Jeongin’s too excited to notice as he continues on, “Anyways, we’re here for the meeting! I’m so excited that we get to work with Chan!”

“Just Chan?” Jisung asks, raising his eyebrows in mock disappointment.

“And maybe Lee Know,” Jeongin says with a big grin, and Jisung leaps at Jeongin to trap him tightly in his arms.

Jisung doesn’t notice Minho watching him with an amused smile, but he does hear Felix ask, “So where’s Hyunjin?”

“He’s still going to be a while. The media’s probably keeping busy, but it’s probably fine to start without him,” Seungmin replies.

“Great, we should head out to the meeting then. Chan’s probably waiting,” Minho says, leading the way out of the door.

Jeongin transforms immediately into a fox, slipping out of Jisung’s clutches and bounding up towards Minho before transforming back. There’s a bounce in his step as he pesters Minho with questions about his quirk and how he learned to fight, and Felix immediately hurries forward, hovering protectively behind Jeongin in case he asks a question he isn’t supposed to. Jisung watches as Minho attempts to deflect at first, but it isn’t long before Minho’s answering Jeongin’s questions in earnest. From the pleased smile on Minho’s face, Jisung has a feeling that Minho’s just glad that someone is looking up to him as a hero again, and not for his name but for his skills.

“They look like they’re going to get along well,” Seungmin observes, aimlessly brushing some of his bangs out of his eyes.

Jisung notices his hands shake slightly as they do, and he remembers the look Seungmin had given Jeongin. Making sure Jeongin and Minho were far ahead and out of earshot, he whispers, “Seungmin, about earlier, are you doing okay?”

Seungmin gives him a look of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Earlier, when Jeongin said you haven’t been doing your best to help people, you shot him a nasty look. Is it your quirk again?”

All sense of playfulness vanishes from Seungmin’s face. He stops suddenly as his eyes narrow, staring down at Jisung. He snaps, “I’m doing fine, thanks.”

“Seungmin, you know I’m just trying to look out for you,” Jisung whispers, struggling to keep his voice level.

“I know, and I’m telling you, I’m fine. I know my limits. Both you and Felix, you keep worrying too much,” Seungmin grumbles, starting off down the hallway again. Jisung hastens to catch up. The deep frown on Seungmin’s face slowly starts to fade into something more somber.

Knowing Seungmin wants the conversation over, Jisung quietly adds, “I trust you, Seungmin, but you’ll tell us if something’s wrong, right?”

They stop in front of the conference room door. Seungmin stands there, staring down at his hand on the door knob before cracking a smile in Jisung’s direction.

“Yeah, I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Bang Chan  
> Hero Name: Chan  
> Agency: 3RACHA  
> Blood Type: O  
> Quirk: Call Me Captain  
> Description: With one touch, he can activate a temporary “contract” with another person, which allows him to gain a boost in power and strength equal to said person’s own strength, and he can freely choose to give a boost to that person as well. His contracts have a limit of one hour, and he can have up to seven live contracts at a time. However, he seems to choose to activate his quirk only after asking his signature phrase,“Do you trust me?” I wonder what’s the reasoning behind that?


	9. Meeting

The meeting starts out well enough. After the usual greetings, everyone settles into a more serious mood as Chan starts by saying, “Well, first off, I’d like to thank you all for coming here so promptly. There’s some things I’d like to wait until Hyunjin is here to talk to you about, so Felix, I believe Jisung filled you in on Wonderland the last time you two met. Is there any new information Dawn was able to find out about them?”

Felix nods. He glances towards Seungmin, who pulls out a binder and flips it open, where Jisung can see his notes neatly filling the page.

“Luckily, Jeongin was there for the fight against the mud villain, so he was able to track down a couple of locations that the villain frequented by his scent,” Seungmin says, his eyes scanning his notes. “Amongst them, we were able to find a bar that seemed to be a popular meet up spot for villains and other petty criminals. From what I was able to uncover by talking to the people there, Wonderland is an organization that became known about four years ago amongst underground villains. Their central ideals are to undo the laws regulating quirk usage and create a society where people are free to use their quirks however they like. Nothing new and innovative about that, but they’ve started to gain attention after Levanter was publicly defeated and arrested.”

“What does this have to do with Levanter though?” Jisung speaks up, recalling his fight with the mud villain. “Is it true that villains are worshipping him?”

Felix’s eyes widen. He discreetly glances at Minho before nodding. “It’s exactly that. This isn’t exactly news, but he’s revered amongst villain circles for his descent into villainy, and rumors have also begun to spring up, claiming that Levanter himself is behind the organization Wonderland, that he only pretended to give himself up for some greater plan…”

“Well that’s some bullshit,” Minho mutters, rolling his eyes.

“Doesn’t change the fact that even some of the general public finds it strange,” Jeongin speaks up, glancing up from his own notes. “Levanter was defeated in a fist fight without using his quirk, and there weren’t casualties either. Because of it, the topics of J.One and Lee Know have also been spreading amongst villains. We weren’t able to discover what exactly they’re planning yet, but many villains seem to think if they can take down you, Jisung, they’ll not only prove that Levanter getting defeated was a fluke, they’ll also put themselves in the good graces of the organization they believe he leads.”

“Ok, that makes sense, but what does Lee Know have anything to do with this?” Jisung questions.

Felix looks grim. “Chan, you presented him as your plan to deal with the aftermath of Levanter’s capture. Lee Know might not be well known yet amongst the public, but villains pay attention to what you say, Chan. They’ve marked Lee Know as a hero you’ve put your faith in. Some may want to defeat Lee Know for that reason, but from what we’ve learned about Wonderland, that’s the least of their concerns. They think that if they can defeat you, Lee Know, they’ll undermine the public faith in Chan and prove their strength.”

In the brief silence that follows, only Jeongin seems to remain in high spirits. He glances at Lee Know and says, “Personally speaking though, I don’t see why Wonderland’s such a threat. Their goals are nothing new, and even if Levanter’s their rumored leader, it doesn’t change the fact that 3RACHA’s on our side, right? Sure, we should be worried about how they want to defeat Jisung and Lee Know specifically, but I’ve seen you fight, Lee Know. You’re crazy strong, so I don’t see what we have to worry about.”

“Jeongin!” Seungmin hisses, slapping him lightly on the shoulder as he glances warily at Chan. “You can’t just say that!”

“What, it’s the truth!” Jeongin insists, whining a little as he rubs the spot where Seungmin had hit him.

Chan chuckles slightly at that. He says, “Jeongin is right. It’s true that they don’t seem to be anything that innovative, but unfortunately, there is one thing that makes me believe we will need to proceed with caution.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a reason why I called you all here, after Hyunjin defeated the villain today. While I was waiting for you to arrive, I was able to learn that her name is Mina, and she normally works as a dance teacher near JYP Plaza.”

“Why’d she want to attack it then?”

“She didn’t,” Chan says, taking in the way Jeongin’s eyes are deeply focused on his words. “She simply lost control of her quirk.”

“Lost control? Is that even possible?” Jeongin asks, his eyes widening incredulously.

Chan nods, but just as he’s about to reply, Jisung’s phone rings. He pulls it out of his pocket in a panic, as Chan half-jokingly chastises, “Jisung! We’re in a meeting!”

“I know, I know, sorry!” Jisung apologizes. He’s about to deny the call when he sees the caller id. “Wait, it’s Changbin. I’ll be back.”

He hurriedly rushes out of the room under the worried gaze of Chan and accepts the call. “Changbin? Where’ve you been?”

There’s nothing but silence at the other end of the call. Jisung takes his phone away from his ear, confused as he checks his phone screen to make sure the call is still going on. The seconds of the length of the phone call continue to tick away, before finally, he hears the faint sound of steady breathing. He brings the phone back to his ear and repeats, “Changbin. You good?”

“Are you at 3RACHA?” is all Changbin asks. His voice sounds stiff and hoarse, like he’s strained it by shouting too much.

“Yeah, Chan tried calling you earlier. We’re meeting with Dawn right now. Are you ok? You sound sick.”

“I’m ok,” Changbin’s words come through tartly. “I want to talk to you and Minho. I’ll drop by in an hour. Make sure you’re alone. Got it?”

“Uh, ok?” Jisung says, furrowing his brows. “Why though?”

“Just make sure you’re alone,” Changbin’s voice harshly snaps. “Bye.”

He hangs up. Jisung stands there listening to the sound of his phone beeping with the tone of an ended phone call before it falls silent. He pockets his phone. When he returns to the meeting room, he shakes his head in answer to Chan’s questioning gaze, mouthing that he’d tell Chan later. Normally, he might be worried, but the heroes of 3RACHA have code words they use in emergencies, which Changbin hadn’t used. Jisung can only trust Changbin’s words, as strange as his request sounds, so instead, he changes the atmosphere of the room by loudly asking, “So when is Hyunjin getting here?”

“He said he finally got out of the interview last time he texted,” Felix replies, glancing at his phone, “so I’m assuming soon.”

“I can’t wait to see what Hyunjin’s reaction will be when he learns Levanter’s here,” Jeongin chimes in with a grin. “He might just burst into tears.”

Seungmin lets a snort. Jisung’s about to ask why Hyunjin might cry when he registers just what exactly Jeongin had said. He sees the serious look on Chan’s face and takes the chance to ask the still oblivious Jeongin, “What do you mean by Levanter?”

“That’s all Hyunjin’s wanted, right?” Jeongin replies, turning to stare directly at Minho, who’s sitting stiffly in his seat. “He’s been looking for Levanter all this…”

The room falls deathly silent as Jeongin trails off. His face pales as he snaps his head towards Chan, his smile melting right off his face.

“Levanter?” Chan repeats slowly, his eyes not leaving Jeongin. “What makes you think Levanter is here?”

“Uh… well…” Jeongin falters before looking back and forth between everyone in the room. Finally, the younger boy gives in, throwing his hands up in exasperation as his eyes land on Seungmin.

“Okay, look, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I accidentally overheard Seungmin and Felix talking after I came back from fighting the mud villain!” Jeongin admits with a loud groan. “You guys went to eat with Jisung and Lee Know afterwards, right? You came back all tight-lipped about what you’d discussed, so I’ve been trying to pretend like I didn’t know Lee Know’s secret! I only found out after I first met you though, so I meant it when I thought your quirk was cool, _Lee Know_.”

Jeongin emphasizes his last words, and Minho offers him a small smile. Chan, however, looks shocked at Jeongin’s confession. His eyes dart around the room as if he doesn’t know who to look at, before finally settling onto Jisung, his stare laser sharp. When he speaks, his voice is incredibly level and calm, like a calm wall holding back a wave of anger.

“Jisung, you didn’t tell me Seungmin was there when you two had dinner with Felix.”

“I—” Jisung can’t even find it in him to defend himself. He hangs his head and says, “I know, I’m sorry, I should’ve told you.”

Chan’s about to saying something further when Felix’s deep voice cuts him off.

“It’s not Jisung’s fault,” Felix says, his eyes cast downwards as he massages his hands to keep calm. “I’m the one who asked if Seungmin could join without considering the circumstances, and my carelessness is what allowed Jeongin to learn the truth as well. I know you asked us here because you trusted us, so I’m sorry for letting you down.”

There’s a moment of silent as Chan lets out a long sigh, massaging his forehead. Finally, he leans forward on both hands and takes turns looking around at everyone in the room.

“I won’t lie. I’m not happy that this secret has gotten out before I could decide who I could entrust this with, but I’m also aware that the bonds you share doesn’t make it easy to hide secrets from each other. I was planning to let you all know eventually, so that’s why, while this may not be what I planned to happen, I’m glad you all know, but I want to make it clear right now. Lee Know’s identity is a secret that cannot leave this room, and that means I expect all of you to not make any mention of it unless you’re absolutely certain no one except for those currently in this room can hear you.”

Before anyone can say anything, Minho comments, “What about Hyunjin?”

“We’ll let Hyunjin know when he gets here,” Chan sighs, already looking like he’s about to get a headache from the sudden turn of events. “Including Hyunjin and Changbin, who’s also not here, this is going to be a secret between the eight of us, okay?”

Everyone nods emphatically, and Chan lets out a small sigh of relief. He turns to Felix again and says, “Now, before we continue, I did unfortunately catch Jeongin say that he overheard you and Seungmin talking after he fought the mud villain, which means you knew before the dinner?”

Felix looks a little sheepish at that. “Ah, well, he’s not wrong, but if you’re worried someone else might figure out his identity as easily as I did, I can guarantee that it won’t happen. Even with my quirk, I wasn’t even able to get much information about who Lee Know is.”

“Then how…?”

“Well, unlike most people, I know that Lee Know was the name he originally wanted to use as a hero name. He told me that back when he was in high school, and I’m not going to forget a conversation with my favorite cousin.”

“More like your only cousin,” Minho snarks with a cheeky smile.

“Still makes you my favorite,” Felix grins back.

This entire time, Chan’s been sitting there with a blank expression on his face, like his brain’s so overloaded that he’s simply stopped thinking. Finally, as if trying to pull himself together, Chan rounds on Minho.

“You used a name people could trace back to our high school days?” Chan demands, looking more panicked than angry.

“I only ever told Felix about the idea of Lee Know!” Minho shrugs. “It seemed like a safe option, and I’ve always been fond of the name. I’m pretty sure I told you about it too, but since you didn’t complain, I assumed it was fine.”

“What? When did you do that?”

“Back in high school. I came to you for advice about picking a hero name and…” Minho trails off, his shoulders sagging ever so slightly. “Oh, I see, you really don’t remember.”

“Min—” Chan catches himself, before he scrunches his eyes up, as if getting confused as to whether or not he’s supposed to keep Minho’s identity a secret. Minho barks out a laugh at the sight and decides for Chan, tugging his mask loose from his face.

“Don’t stress too much about it, Chan,” Minho snickers, tossing his mask onto the table. “High school was a long while ago, and I’m not surprised if you wanted to forget everything about me.”

Chan’s jaw clenches as an icy silence fills the room. Minho’s busy picking at his nails, like he’s oblivious to the implications of what he’d just said, but everyone in the room is perfectly aware of what he really means.

“Minho…” Chan slowly says. “I know I must have hurt you with my actions, and I know I’m asking a lot of you, but I hope you can still trust me.”

“I do,” Minho says candidly, still looking at his nails with extreme interest. “The real question though, Chan, is do you trust me?”

Something shifts in Chan’s expression, a flash of vulnerability that vanishes so quickly Jisung isn’t sure if he imagined it. Minho lifts his eyes up towards Chan, and for a moment, they simply stare at each other, perfectly composed, like rivals staring each other down before a fight.

Jisung’s surprised when it’s Chan who breaks first.

Chan lets out a soft snort. There’s a strangely fond smile on his face when he says, “It’s been a while since I heard you lecture me about trust.”

A knowing smirk appears on Minho’s lips. “Well, someone’s got to remind you of your humble beginnings,” Minho replies, and just like that, any tension between them seems to dissolve.

It makes Jisung acutely aware of the fact that Minho and Chan really are old friends. Despite the pain they both must have suffered in the years Minho was considered a villain, despite the rift it must have created in their relationship, there’s still a solid foundation to their friendship that can’t be shaken, one they can still build upon despite the words they’ve yet to say to each other.

For one small moment, Jisung wonders if one day he’ll be able to be a friend like that to Minho too. He feels silly just thinking about it though, so he turns his attention back to the meeting. He notices that Jeongin has been staring at Minho’s bare face for a while, now that the atmosphere has gotten more cordial. Minho catches him staring and shoots him a coy smile. “What are you staring at, fox boy?”

“Nothing,” Jeongin shrugs, shaking his head back and forth as if to shake thoughts from his head. He gathers himself up and puts on a smile. “It’s just hard to believe I’m actually sitting in front of Levanter himself.”

Minho scowls, and Jeongin quickly says in an apologetic tone, “Ah, sorry. Do you not like being called Levanter anymore? Lee Know it is then!”

Minho looks slightly dumbfounded by how sharp Jeongin is. Jisung just sidles up to Minho and laughs at the look on Minho’s face. “He’s young, but Jeongin’s always been great at looking out for people in his own way.”

“He ought to look out for himself sometimes too then,” Seungmin cheekily mutters, and the tips of Jeongin’s ears turn pink as he rounds on Seungmin.

“Mind your own business,” Jeongin pouts, but he only succeeds in drawing in Seungmin’s attention. Seungmin launches himself at Jeongin, pulling the younger boy into a tight hug and ruffling his black hair into a mess despite his protests. Amidst his grumbling, Jeongin’s ears suddenly twitch and transform into the large ears of a fennec fox, and he turns his eyes on the door.

“Hyunjin’s here,” he says. Right on cue, the faint sound of footsteps can be heard in the distance, growing louder, until finally, the door swings wide open.

Hyunjin is in the doorway, still dressed in his hero suit minus the coat. He spots Chan first by the door and bows deeply. “I’m so sorry I’m late!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chan amiably says, waving him inside. “You did great de-escalating the situation today, and thanks for passing on my message.”

“Of course! I’m always glad to help,” Hyunjin grins, his eyes sweeping over the room. Jisung catches how his smile widens a little more at the sight of Jeongin, before his eyes land on Minho.

The smile melts off his face instantly.

His mouth agape, Hyunjin leans one hand on the frame of the doorway for support as he mutters, “Um, sorry, I think I’m hallucinating.”

“Don’t worry, you’re not,” Felix says, getting up to reassuringly pat Hyunjin on the back. “Sorry, we couldn’t tell you earlier, but yeah. Minho’s back, and he didn’t actually go to jail.”

Hyunjin opens and closes his mouth like a gaping fish, and the only words he ends up managing to say are, “Minho, it’s really you?”

“Who else would I be?” Minho merrily says, a delighted smile spreading across his face as he gets up to greet Hyunjin. “You’ve grown taller since I last saw you, Hyunjin!”

Hyunjin closes his mouth. His bottom lip starts to tremble, and before anyone can stop him, he takes a flying leap and starts to bawl into Minho’s arms.

“I told you he’d start to cry,” Jeongin mumbles, though the look on his face is bittersweet.

Minho rubs circles on Hyunjin’s back as he tries to calm the younger boy down. Minho says, “What are you crying about? You should be happy to see me.”

“I am!” Hyunjin cries in between sobs, sniffling as he hugs Minho tighter. “I just, I’ve missed you! I always believed you would never become some horrible villain, and seeing you here, it means I was right. You being a villain, it can’t have been something you wanted!”

“Hyunjin, you’re making a scene,” Minho lightly scolds, even as he returns Hyunjin’s hug. “Come on, we’ll talk later. You’re at a meeting with _the_ number one hero, remember?”

Hyunjin immediately turns scarlet. He straightens up hastily, embarrassment flooding his face as he rubs away his tears and bows towards Chan again, so low he almost hits his head on the table. “I’m so sorry for disturbing the meeting!”

“It’s fine,” Chan laughs, motioning for Felix and Hyunjin to sit down. “It’s nice to see that Minho has other friends he cares so much about.”

“Hey, I have plenty of friends!” Minho snaps, plopping back down into his seat.

Chan just waves him off with a cheeky grin. He then turns to look around at the heroes from Dawn and leans forward against his crossed arms.

“Well, now that’s everyone’s here, I’d like to return to the topic we were on before Jisung’s phone went off. Hyunjin, you remember how the woman from this morning had lost control of her quirk?”

Hyunjin nods, and Chan continues, “Well, I believe it happened because of this.”

He brings out a jar that hits the table with a dull thud. Immediately, the heroes from Dawn make a face of disgust as they stare at the slowly shifting lump of flesh inside the jar.

“What is that?” Jeongin is the first to exclaim, pushing his body as far away as he can from the jar.

“We’re not exactly sure, but our best guess is that it’s like an invasive parasite that has the ability to take over a person’s quirk factor. It seems to have the ability to sense anything that might cause harm to it and unleashes the quirk it’s controlling because of it. Someone must have passed this parasite onto Mina, and eventually at some point this morning she lost control of her quirk.”

While the others retain their expressions of disgust, Felix’s eyes light up, looking like an excited child on Christmas.

“How fascinating,” Felix muses, a hand on his chin as he studies the wriggling lump of flesh. He brings a hand up to his forehead and brushes his bangs aside to expose his third eye. For a brief moment, it opens, glowing blue, before Felix jerks slightly backwards, shutting his third eye immediately and clutching his head. “Yikes, I haven’t gotten a headache that bad in ages.”

“Were you able to see anything?” Jisung asks.

“I saw a bit too much,” Felix winces, still massaging his temples as Seungmin looks on in concern. “It’s going to take me a while before I can sort through the information without frying my brain.”

“Take all the time you need,” Chan says, pushing the jar towards Felix. “I don’t think we need to know everything about what this thing is, but if you could figure out what are the conditions that activate it and how we can stop it, then I’d really appreciate it.”

“Of course, Chan, anything for you,” Felix grins back, picking the jar up like it was the most precious gift in the world. His expression shifts quickly though, his eyes glancing briefly towards Minho before he asks, “Not that I can’t just work from this, but is this the only sample you have?”

It’s a loaded question. Jeongin and Hyunjin looks confused by the sudden awkward silence, but Jisung knows what Felix is implying.

He wants to know if this is what happened to Levanter too, if Chan will tell him.

Chan takes a deep breath.

“There’s one more sample,” Chan finally says, reaching to the side and bringing out another jar.

The lump of flesh inside looks different from when Jisung had extracted it from Minho’s body. It’s shriveled up now, the color now dark and mottled. Jisung notices Minho clench his hands into fists beside him at the sight, and without thinking, Jisung reaches out and places his hand over Minho’s.

Minho glances towards him in surprise, but Jisung doesn’t look back. He knows he’ll feel embarrassed if his eyes meet Minho’s, but Jisung knows from experience how much just one touch can ground a person and remind them that they’re not alone. He hopes he’s not crossing a line by reaching out for Minho, but internally, Jisung lets out a sigh of relief when he feels Minho’s hand relax underneath his.

Meanwhile, Chan carefully looks over at the heroes of Dawn and says, “What I’m about to say cannot leave this room. Is that clear?”

The overwhelming pressure from the intensity in Chan’s gaze is more than enough to make everyone nod readily, a tense look in their eyes. When he’s sure he’s conveyed the severity of the situation, Chan continues with a deep breath.

“This was extracted Minho’s body, shortly after Jisung defeated him,” Chan says, his hand heavy on the lid of the jar. Hyunjin and Jeongin’s eyes immediately widen in horror as they look towards Minho, the implications clear even before Chan continues, “Four years ago, Minho lost control of his quirk, and that’s why he became a villain. We have very good reason to believe this is tied to the incident this morning, and that Wonderland is behind it.”

Hyunjin looks like he’s about to cry again, and even Jeongin’s gaze is devastated when he looks towards Minho. Before either can say anything though, Minho gets up. He moves to the space between Hyunjin and Jeongin and suddenly slaps them on the back, making both of them sit up with a start.

“What are you both looking so down for?” Minho demands, reaching down to pinch both of their ears.

“But Minho, you—”

“Yeah, I lost control of my quirk, and it ruined my life, but the past is the past. Nothing’s going to the change the fact that I’ve hurt people and that I’ve let down my friends, but what’s important is that I’m back,” Minho says, “and I’m going to use this time I have to make Wonderland pay. Isn’t that right, Jisung?”

Jisung is surprised when Minho turns to look back at him, his eyes glinting with determination, but he’s quick to flash a wide grin back in support.

“Yeah,” Jisung chimes in, leaning back in his seat with confidence oozing out of his posture. “Jeongin said it perfectly earlier. We’re some of the best heroes in this city, and if Wonderland’s really responsible, well, it’s just more motivation for us to defeat them.”

“Jisung and Minho are right,” Chan adds, fondly smiling at them. “I’m confident that whatever the threat Wonderland may pose, we’ll be able to overcome them together, so it’s important we focus on the future. No doubt Wonderland will cause trouble in the future, but as heroes, it’s our job to make sure to help as many people as we can. Do you all think you’re ready for the job?”

The heroes of Dawn look around at each other, before Felix perks up and smiles brightly back at Chan.

“Of course,” he says, and Seungmin also nods with a determined look in his eyes. “You know we’d never let you down, Chan.”

“Great,” Chan grins. “Now that that’s settled, you’ve all been debriefed, so I say we get started on our investigation then. Anyone want to add anything before we adjourn this meeting?”

Strangely, it’s Hyunjin whose eyes linger on Minho. He’s no longer looks upset, but his contemplative gaze hasn’t left Minho since he tried to cheer him and Jeongin up. He says, “Actually, I have something I want to speak with Minho about. Is that okay?”

Minho glances up at Hyunjin, whose expression something akin to a grimace. For a moment, a frown crosses Minho’s face, like he’s not sure what Hyunjin wants.

Minho comments, “Something tells me you’re not thinking about having another nice chat to catch up with each other.”

“It’s about the dance group you used to be in.”

Jisung frowns, not sure why that’s something Hyunjin wants to talk to Minho about, or why that’s something that would cause Hyunjin to look so serious. However, his confusion is quickly answered by the panicked expression on Minho’s face, like he’s scared of what Hyunjin has to say.

Almost immediately, Minho glances towards Jisung, a desperate plea for help in his eyes.

Jisung can’t help it.

Flustered, Jisung coughs and states, “Actually, I need to talk to Minho and Chan afterwards about uh… agency things! Sorry, Hyunjin, do you mind stopping by a different time?”

Hyunjin’s eyes flit to Jisung, making him gulp. Hyunjin’s a good friend and an even nicer person, but moments like these remind Jisung of the days when they were more rivals than friends, and as close as they are now, their former animosity towards each other still shows through from time to time, especially when they disagree. It doesn’t help that Hyunjin is intensely beautiful, and his looks mixed with a perfected glare makes him intimidating when Hyunjin wanted to be, in more ways than one.

Jisung doesn’t back down though. He’s had years to learn to be immune to Hyunjin’s intimidation, and he hadn’t once been Hyunjin’s rival for nothing. When Hyunjin doesn’t say anything in response, Jisung steels his glare and declares, “Actually, that’s not a question. We have work to discuss, so you’ll have to come back some other time, and that’s that.”

As usual, the intensity on Hyunjin’s face fades into a small grin at Jisung’s response. He laughs, “Okay, okay, you win this time, Jisung. As for you, Minho, I know you’re probably not going to want to talk to me about that topic for a while, so I won’t pressure you to talk, but in the meantime, I hope we can still hang out like the old times.”

Minho cracks a small smile in response, but doesn’t say anything further. Felix takes the chance to get up, looking around brightly at the others and saying, “Well, I think this is our cue to leave.”

The rest of the heroes of Dawn follow suit, but Hyunjin, however, is a little slow to get up as he pouts, “Changbin’s not here, though, huh?”

“Ah, sorry, Hyunjin, we tried to get ahold of him, but he didn’t answer,” Chan explains, shooting Hyunjin a sympathetic look. “I’ll let him know that you were looking for him.”

“Oh, it’s fine, you don’t have to,” Hyunjin hastily replies, the tips of his ears turning red again.

“No, you should definitely let Changbin know,” Felix says teasingly, flashing Minho and Jisung a grin like there’s a joke Jisung shouldn’t understand but doesn’t. He pushes Hyunjin out the door before Hyunjin can protest. Jeongin follows closely behind, and Seungmin’s the last to leave, though not before he bids them all properly good-bye by saying, “Well, see you guys later. Enjoy your company meeting!”

The door shuts with a click behind them, and the voices of Dawn slowly disappear down the hall. When they’re sure they’re gone, Chan asks, “So Jisung, did you actually have something to discuss with me, or was that just a lie to delay the inevitable?”

“Both?” Jisung shrugs, as Minho also gets up to stretch his arms and legs. “It’s about Changbin actually…”

He tells Minho and Chan what Changbin had asked of him over the phone. Chan looks concerned, but simply nods. “So he wants to meet you two here alone? That’s strange, though I trust Changbin has a reason for it. I’m assuming you were hoping I could hide somewhere and act as backup if needed?”

Jisung nods.

“Well, I don’t see why not,” Chan says, scratching his head. “Let’s wait for him then, shall we? I just hope it’s not actually anything to worry about…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Notes of Interesting Quirks**  
>  Name: Myoui Mina  
> Profession: Dance Teacher  
> Blood Type: A  
> Quirk: Tremor  
> Description: She can shake and disrupt small areas of the ground, like a controlled, mini earthquake. Normally, she can only cause small cracks in the ground, but when she lost control of her quirk, the impact increased, and her quirk was able to crush the ground in a way that even the debris it sent flying could attack others. Do quirks grow stronger when its user loses control? Or perhaps… it brings out its true potential?


	10. Fighting Shadows

When the clock strikes one, the office door to 3RACHA opens with a creak.

Jisung feels like his heart’s going to explode from how fast it’s beating. The only things keeping him from combusting are the small, steady breaths he takes and the warm pressure of Minho’s hand at his back.

Changbin pokes out from behind the door. He smiles at the sight of Jisung and Minho alone, but his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“You actually listened to me for once,” Changbin comments, closing the door behind him. He takes a few steps into the office, keeping his hands in his pockets. 

“You’re still my senior here after all. I’ve got to listen to you sometimes, right?” Jisung laughs weakly. “So what did you need to talk to me and Lee Know about?”

The corner of Changbin’s mouth twitches upwards, and he lets out a long breath. “I just needed to talk about some work stuff you know. Gotta do my monthly evaluations of you two, you know how it goes.”

“Wait, the monthly evaluations are coming up?” Jisung exclaims. He throws his head back dramatically and agonizes, “Why do you always have to spring them up on me like that, Changbin? I haven’t prepared anything!”

“Better let Lee Know help you then,” Changbin snickers, his eyes trained on Minho. “You’ll do that won’t you, just like when we _performed Glow_.”

Minho’s expression is unreadable from behind his mask, as his mouth curls slightly upwards. He replies, “Fine, but you’ll need to let me give Jisung a few tips. Come here, Jisung. Here’s how you pass the evaluations.”

Jisung steps closer to Minho, who bends down slightly to whisper into Jisung’s ear, so quietly he almost misses it.

“Approach Changbin without raising suspicions, and knock him out.”

Jisung’s eyes darts towards Minho without moving his head. Up close, he can see Minho’s eyes staring back through his mask, narrowed and stern in contrast to the fake smile on his lips. 

Loudly, Jisung says, “What, there’s no way that’ll help!”

“Just try it,” Minho laughs, pushing Jisung a step closer to Changbin, who visibly gulps and tentatively shifts his feet backwards slightly.

Jisung sticks his tongue out at Minho for the show of it and steps forward again, puffing his cheeks out and whining, “Chaaaangbinnnnn!” 

“What are you doing?” Changbin asks, less panic in his voice than there is pure confusion.

Jisung stops and turns back to Minho, who stares back, looking unsure about what angle Jisung is trying to go for either. Jisung complains, “See, I told you acting cute wouldn’t work on him!”

Minho’s eyes light up, while an audible sigh come from Changbin behind Jisung. Minho jerks his head towards Changbin again and says, “Keep trying. You know how weak he is to cute things.”

“I am not weak to cute things!” Changbin snaps indignantly as color flushes his face.

“Oh come on,” Jisung turns back to Changbin, mirth in his eyes as he steps closer again, pouting as he pokes at his puffed up cheeks. “You might’ve fooled the public into thinking you’re a dark hero, but we all know how much you can’t resist my love!”

Changbin rolls his eyes, but he’s stopped moving back from Jisung’s advances. Ignoring the fact that he’s going to die of embarrassment afterwards, Jisung presses onwards. “Come on, Changbin, please? Can’t you let me skip the monthly evaluations just this once?”

“Hey, Minho, I told you to help him, not encourage his bad habits!” Changbin shouts at Minho, his eyes completely off of Jisung, either to purposely avoid looking at Jisung’s attempts at being cute, or for a different reason altogether. Jisung’s heartbeat is racing again. He takes one more shaky step closer. He’s almost there. Almost—

“Hey, sorry to intrude, but I think I forgot something—”

The entire room freezes as all eyes swivel to the door that swings open to reveal Hyunjin’s tall figure. The bright smile melts right off Hyunjin’s face at the tense atmosphere in the room, before he notices Changbin standing stiffly off to the side.

“Oh, Changbin, you’re here!” Hyunjin brightens up. “I actually wanted to talk with you about something.”

Changbin doesn’t look at him, adamantly keeping his eyes on Jisung and Minho. His fists clench just a little tighter.

“Sorry Hyunjin, maybe not now,” Jisung says, trying to keep his voice steady. Jisung’s inching slowly towards Changbin now. Changbin’s hands are just barely in reach. Maybe he can just dive for Changbin and press his hands against his face instead…?

Their high school rivalry probably still rooted deep in his mind, Hyunjin instinctively shoots a glare at Jisung before clearing his throat and softening his gaze. “Right, sorry, you were having an agency meeting right? I’ll come back some other time then—”

He suddenly pauses. His attention is turned towards a house plant decorating the office, standing in a pot right next to Changbin. His brow furrows, and he looks up at Changbin, who remains turned away from him, expressionless.

Pointing at the plant, Hyunjin awkwardly laughs. 

“Uh, I think your house plant isn’t doing too well. Maybe you should water it less.”

“What?” Jisung quietly asks, his attention distracted by Hyunjin’s statement.

“Yeah, I think its senses are all messed up,” Hyunjin says, though the concern is growing on his face as he stares at Changbin. “It’s saying that Changbin, you’re… you’re not controlling your shadow anymore…”

Jisung’s eyes widen, his fears confirmed. He leaps at Changbin now, but he’s too late. Changbin’s pupils constrict, and his body turns towards Hyunjin, an arm outstretched as he screams, “Hyunjin, get back! Run!”

Changbin’s shadow shoots off the ground and lunges at Hyunjin with lightning speed. Hyunjin stumbles backwards, lifting an arm over his face just in time. Vines explode out of his pockets, growing instantly in front of him as a shield and blocking the shadow’s piercing attack. It lunges again, and Hyunjin tumbles to the side. There’s a loud crack as the shadow slams into the side of the door frame behind him.

“Lee Know, cover for me!” Jisung shouts as he runs forward. Minho leaps into action, starting up a dance move and thrusting one hand forward towards Changbin. A gush of fire hurtles through the air at him, as Jisung leaps to the side and rushes up at Changbin from another angle. Changbin’s shadow shifts its attention to the two heroes and rises up like a dark wall, swallowing up Minho’s flames before swiftly shooting towards Jisung. He rolls to the side. The attack misses him by a hair, slamming into the couch and sending it flying into the opposite wall.

Jisung’s palm suddenly thrums with energy. He glances down at the glowing seal on his hand, and notices Minho staring down at his hand too. He leaps backward to avoid Changbin’s shadow, which swipes around Changbin like a razor sharp whip and glances towards the closed door of the back room, where Chan no doubt is waiting. As a precaution, Chan had activated his quirk before Changbin had arrived, making a contract with both Jisung and Minho in case things went south. Now that they're both receiving his power boost, the only reason Chan hasn't appeared yet is likely because the damage caused by Changbin’s quirk is currently minimal. If Changbin becomes aware that Chan has been here the whole time, Jisung doesn’t know how much more vicious his quirk might become. 

Suddenly, all the lights in the office flicker on. Hyunjin is standing by the light switch, breathing heavily as they all watch Changbin’s shadow start to fade and grow lighter. 

“Hey, Changbin, looks like you’ve totally lost it!” Hyunjin shouts tauntingly. 

“What do you think you’re doing? It’s dangerous!” Changbin shouts at Hyunjin, already struggling to stumble away from Hyunjin’s direction. Changbin’s shadow, although fainter, lunges for Hyunjin again. Hyunjin charges head on at Changbin, grabbing at the material form of Changbin’s shadow with his vines as he shouts, “J.One, get him!”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” Jisung shouts. He reaches a hand out to Minho and says, “Send me flying!”

Minho grins back. He grabs tight onto Jisung’s waist, and with a roar, wind gushes out behind them, propelling both of them straight into Changbin, who topples over under the impact. Jisung slams his hand into Changbin’s face and presses down hard against Changbin’s skin. His eyes glow red, and immediately, Changbin’s eyes roll back, a grin lingering on his face as he falls unconscious. 

Jisung sits back on the floor with a sigh of relief. He immediately turns to Hyunjin with a scowl, but Hyunjin’s already collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily, his expression twisted in pain. Despite his irritation, concern for his friend overwhelms him as Jisung asks, “Hyunjin, are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“No, I’m fine, I just—Sorry, I shouldn’t have barged in like that. You had it all under control before I came in, didn’t you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jisung says, looking to Minho for support. 

Minho nods and adds, “Hyunjin, no one could’ve predicted this, so honestly, I’m glad it was you that showed up over anyone else. It could’ve gone so much worse.”

Hyunjin meekly smiles back. Jisung turns his attention back to Changbin. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

He lifts Changbin’s shirt up. From the experience of extracting the parasite from Minho and Mina, he has a hunch the parasite is probably lodged somewhere near Changbin’s midriff. He presses a hand against Changbin’s bare skin and smiles to himself. The area distorting his quirk just slightly off to the right of Changbin’s side. It’s a larger area than the one he’d extracted this morning from Mina, but it’s close enough to Changbin’s skin that he doubts it’ll be hard to extract, and the power boost from Chan’s quirk will only make the process even easier.

“Wait, Jisung…”

Jisung hears Minho’s voice, but he’s too busy concentrating to focus on what Minho is saying. Changbin’s blood is pounding, like his heart is going into overdrive as his blood speeds through his veins. Jisung lets his mind follow the course of Changbin’s bloodstream as he retracts the parasite. Given how weak Changbin looks, Jisung has a hunch that Changbin either hasn’t eaten properly in the few days since they last saw each other, or the nutrition he was supposed to be gaining was going somewhere else, something that didn’t belong. It reminds him of how malnourished Minho had looked when they’d first met. Just thinking about it makes Jisung’s blood boil.

“Jisung… Get back.”

“What?” Jisung hears himself ask, even as all his senses are consumed with slowly shifting the distorted area out of Changbin’s body. 

“Jisung, something’s wrong… Changbin’s shadow—Jisung, it’s still moving!”

Jisung snaps back to reality. He looks up just as Changbin’s shadow shoots off the ground and lunges straight for Jisung’s throat. Jisung throws his hands up, dread filling him as he shuts his eyes.

A sickening squelch reaches his ears. Jisung opens his eyes. Minho’s arm is protectively thrust in front of him, dripping blood from where Changbin’s shadow has pierced straight through it, just a hair’s width from piercing Jisung’s own throat. Jisung collapses onto the floor, all energy sapped from him. “M-Minho?”

“I’m fine, get the thing out of Changbin now!” Minho shouts, just as the shadow wrenches itself from Minho’s arm. Before Jisung can place his hands on Changbin’s body again, the shadow suddenly wraps itself around Changbin’s body.

“What—?”

Changbin suddenly sits up, his eyes still shut, as his shadow covers his body like a coat of shimmering darkness. Hyunjin shouts, “Get back you two! It’s trying to control Changbin’s body!”

Jisung immediately pushes off the ground, tackling Minho to the side just as Changbin’s arm swings towards Minho. Changbin’s hands drag himself backwards, and the shadows suddenly shoot up towards the lights.

“Shit,” Minho mutters as the sound of glass shattering echoes through the air and the room grows darker save for the sunlight coming in through the window. The shadows around Changbin darken, and immediately they shoot out towards the three heroes.

“It won’t be that easy!” Minho snarls, drawing a circle on the ground with one hand. A ring of fire erupts around the room. The shadows scatter and retreat back around Changbin’s body like a liquid coat of armor.

“Lee Know, are you sure you’re okay?” Jisung asks worriedly, eyeing the blood still dripping from the wound on his arm.

“I’m fine, I’m promise,” Minho says, wincing as he makes a thumbs up with his other hand. “You can fix me up later with your quirk right? Chan’s power boost is really helping, so let’s just focus on taking down Changbin’s stupid quirk first okay?”

Jisung nods, but he’s suddenly struck by a thought. 

That’s right. He can heal people too.

“Lee Know, cover for us!” Jisung shouts as he runs at Hyunjin and yanks him to the side. 

“Your control of those vines, how accurate is it?” Jisung asks Hyunjin, keeping an eye on the fight as Minho begins to throw his all at Changbin, whose shadow remains on the defensive, swallowing up his every attack. 

“I mean, they’ll do anything I want them to,” Hyunjin replies. “What are you thinking?”

Jisung whispers his plan into Hyunjin’s ear. Hyunjin stares back with wide eyes. He whispers, “Are you sure?”

“We won’t know if we don’t try,” Jisung replies. “Can you trust me on this?”

Hyunjin glances over at Changbin. Jisung can understand why he looks worried. He’s asking Hyunjin to do something insane, but there’s no one else he knows who can pull off something like that. 

Hyunjin turns back to Jisung and finally nods. “I won’t let you down. I’m doing this for Changbin too.”

Jisung grins back. Hyunjin really does like to have Changbin’s name on his mind. He rushes at Changbin and shouts, “Yeah, yeah, let’s go!”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Minho shouts, just barely diverging a gust of wind from hitting Jisung, who grins as he slams his hands against Changbin’s shadowy armor. 

“You’re just a shadow in the end!” Jisung shouts. “Come at me with all you’ve got!”

“Are you an idiot?” Minho shouts, leaping into the air and shooting bursts of wind at Changbin from over Jisung’s head. “What’s the point of shouting at a quirk?”

“Who cares!” Jisung laughs, pushing harder at the shadowy armor that was still focused on blocking Minho’s attacks and unbudging from where Jisung had placed his hands. “I might not have a flashy quirk, but I’m still a fighter!”

Jisung spots a piece of bare skin left uncovered on Changbin’s hand and grabs it. He pushes his senses into Changbin’s body through his bare skin towards Changbin’s other hand until he’s in control of Changbin’s entire left arm. 

“Take this!” Jisung shouts as he makes Changbin’s left arm punch Changbin in the face.

Changbin’s body stumbles. The shadowy armor finally responds as it retracts from around Changbin’s body and pummels into Jisung’s side. Jisung cries out in pain but doesn’t let go, punching Changbin in the face again with his own fist. 

_Come on, come on,_ Jisung thinks, his eyes trained on Changbin’s side. Slowly but surely, the shadow shifts away from the area, leaving it unprotected, deciding Jisung is the only threat to its removal.

“Now!” Jisung shouts. Immediately, vines strike Changbin in the side, piercing through his skin. Blood spurts everywhere, splashing on Jisung, but suddenly, the resistance from Changbin’s shadow halts, and Changbin collapses back onto the floor, his shadow returning to normal. The vines retract from Changbin’s body, curled around a clump of flesh that writhes in its grip. Jisung leaps at Changbin’s body, immediately closing his wound. He shouts, “Hyunjin, do you have it?”

“Got it!” Hyunjin shouts, as Jisung hears an audible plunk and the screwing of a lid onto a jar. As the last of Changbin’s cells close up, Jisung sits back in relief and turns to Minho, who has since made the fire the room disappear. He holds out his hand. “Sorry for forcing you to move despite your injury.”

Minho just smiles meekly, his breathing shallow as he puts his injured arm in Jisung’s hand. “I trust you after all,” Minho murmurs, his voice weak. Jisung balks at the site of the hole in Minho’s arm, his entire sleeve now soaked in blood. 

“You idiot! You should’ve said something if you were losing so much blood!” Jisung shouts as he quickly closes his hands around Minho’s wounds. “Chan!”

The door to the backroom creaks open. Chan hurries over, takes one look at the situation and runs to the fridge in the office, immediately tossing Minho a bottle of juice. After Minho gulps the juice down, Chan walks over and flicks Minho on the forehead. “Stubborn as usual, aren’t you.”

“It worked out in the end,” Minho mutters as Jisung finishes healing up the hole in his arm. He tries to take his arm out of Jisung’s grip, but Jisung doesn’t let go. He’s glaring at Minho now, pressing his fingers deep into the parts of his arm where a hole had once been. 

“Next time,” Jisung hisses. “Next time you get hurt, you’re going to tell someone when you’re hurt, or else.”

Jisung leaves his threat unfinished as he digs his fingers into Minho’s skin. Minho meekly laughs back, sighing. “Okay, fine, I promise. Next time.”

Jisung lets him go and smiles. “As long as you know! I’m going to wake up Changbin now, so get ready just in case!”

He wakes up the nerves in Changbin’s body, and Changbin sits up with a gasp. His eyes dart around in a panic, especially once he sees Chan, but then Hyunjin squats down, shaking the flesh-like parasite in the jar. He grins, “We got it.”

Changbin stares at Hyunjin wide-eyed before he suddenly lets his body fall back onto the floor. He brings an arm up over his eyes and gasps, “I’m so sorry, I caused you all so much trouble.”

“You did well, Changbin, to make sure you got here so Jisung could help you before anything worse happened,” Chan praises. “I have to ask though, when did you even get infected though?”

“That’s the thing,” Changbin says, sitting up again. “I’m not sure. I’ve been feeling off all week, but nothing comes to mind when I think about who I might’ve accidentally bumped into.”

“Did anything significant happen before you started to feel off?”

As Changbin starts to think, Jisung turns to Hyunjin. “Anyways, what did you come back for?”

“Ah, my wallet,” Hyunjin replies, looking sheepish. “I think it might’ve fallen out of my pocket when I ran to hug Minho.”

“Take care of your belongings better,” Minho teases. Jisung gets up, glancing at Chan and Changbin who still looks deep in thought, and is about to suggest getting Hyunjin’s wallet in the meantime when he remembers.

“Oh wait, Changbin, we took down that thief last week, remember? The one you said to tell the police that Lee Know had caught.”

Surprise crosses Changbin’s face. Typical of him to completely forget a small good deed he’d done. He slowly nods and says, “Yeah, I guess it was after that… Jisung?”

Everyone turns their attention to Jisung, whose face suddenly pales. A purse thief, an attack blocked by Changbin, a woman in trouble.

“Chan, that woman from today, Mina! I knew she looked familiar!”

Chan furrows his brows. “What are you—”

“Mina’s the person we helped last week! I was wondering why a thief would be dumb enough to steal something near our agency, but then he tried to attack me! And then, Changbin, remember? When you blocked his attack, there was a stain on your hand and…!”

“He probably also touched the woman when he stole his bag from her,” Minho fills in the silence, his attention now on Chan, who slowly gets up, a fearsome look in his eyes.

“Looks like there’s someone we need to visit in prison.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Hwang Hyunjin  
> Hero Name: TMT  
> Agency: Dawn  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: Plant Whisperer  
> Description: He can communicate with any plant, and also command them to move and fight for him, capable of manipulating plants to shoot them towards his enemies or to change their sizes and shapes and growth stage. His quirk is especially great for gathering information from nature itself, but his attack power also impressive. The best hero partner!


	11. Wonderland

The visiting room is covered in pristine white tiles, bright lights bearing down as Chan walks into the room. It’s split in half by a bullet-proof glass, and on the left, the wall is made up of a one-way mirror, where the guards, in addition to the rest of the 3RACHA agency, is watching in silence.

“Chan, you have fifteen minutes,” the head guard says through the speaker.

Chan throws a thumbs up at the surveillance camera before sitting down in the chair. Across from him, the criminal has his hands handcuffed to the chair behind his back. His hair is ashen gray and grown back in a mullet, while his eyes hone in on Chan, like a tiger watching its prey.

“Took you heroes long enough,” the thief snickers. “Did you honestly think any criminal would be dumb enough to steal a bag right in front of your hero agency?”

Chan glares back. “What’s your goal, Kim Hongjoong?”

“Please, just Hongjoong. It’s the villain name I’ve decided for myself after all,” Hongjoong smirks. “As for my goal… I’m sure you have a guess, Mr. No. 1 Hero.”

“What do you know about Wonderland?”

Hongjoong breaks into laughter. “You’re funny, Chan. What makes you think I’ll tell you?”

“Because that’s exactly why you’re in prison,” Chan says, his voice steady. “You’re not stupid, Hongjoong, we’ve seen your school records. You graduated from the Hero course at KQ High with the highest honors four years ago before vanishing off the map. Someone as intelligent as you wouldn’t have been caught if all you’d wanted was to infect someone with that parasite.”

“Oh, that’s high praise coming from someone like you,” Hongjoong grins almost cheekily. “Although, parasite… Hmm, I suppose it’s like that to you, isn’t it.”

Chan’s eyes narrow, but Hongjoong doesn’t say anything more. He turns his eyes to the one-way mirror on his right. “Anyways, you’re here because you finally connected the dots right? That means that the serum must have worked on SpearB, but surely, I would’ve heard the news of a well-known hero going berserk again, even before you warned people that I’m more dangerous than a petty purse thief. Which means… you have someone who can counter it.”

Chan doesn’t respond, fixing Hongjoong with an icy look. 

Hongjoong laughs at the sight. “Come on, don’t look so mean. It’s just a simply deduction on my part. Although the fact that you’re aware of the serum also means you know exactly what we did to Levanter.”

Jisung feels Minho grow tense next to him. His face is contorted with something akin to hatred, and Jisung discreetly wraps a hand around Minho’s tightly clenched fists, rubbing circles against the back of Minho’s hand until he finally relaxes and calms down.

“That’s cruel of you, Chan.” Hongjoong’s laughter rings through the visiting room. “Sending Levanter off to prison when you knew it wasn’t his fault…”

He suddenly stops mid-laughs and sits forwards, his handcuffs clanging against his chair. His eyes sparkle underneath the fluorescent lighting, his expression blank as he says, “Unless you didn’t.”

Chan’s eyes narrow. He snaps, “I’m not here to talk to you about what Wonderland did to Levanter. Why are you here in prison? As an agent for Wonderland?”

The corners of Hongjoong’s smile twitches upwards. “An agent? I suppose you could call me that. Yes, I’m here to deliver a message. Wonderland is on the move, and I’m excited to see what you heroes will try to do to stop them.”

“You believe in their cause so much that you’d willingly go to prison for it?”

“Believe?” Hongjoong straightens up in his seat. He tilts his head back, looking down at his nose at Chan, a sneer stretching wide across his face. He leers, “Oh, it’s more than believing their cause, Chan. After all, I’m the one who made it.”

An icy silence washes over the room. Chan’s eyes go wide, his hands clenched into fists. “You—!”

“Yes, I’m the founder of Wonderland. Surprise~!” Hongjoong laughs, seeming delighted by Chan’s reaction. “But there’s no need to panic. I may have picked out the top brass of Wonderland, but I gave my position of power away a long while back.”

“How can we trust what you’re saying?” Chan hisses.

“You can’t, but trust me, if anyone had known I’d been captured, Wonderland would’ve broken me out long before you heroes had put two and two together,” Hongjoong replies. His expression suddenly grows serious. “Besides, why else would I go to the trouble to secretly get captured right under Wonderland’s noses?”

Chan’s unable to hide his surprise. “Wonderland didn’t send you?”

“Like I said, I may have started Wonderland, but I was fresh out of high school. It wasn’t fun trying to be leader while enjoying my newfound freedom, so after our fun experiment on Levanter, I gave it all up to someone I thought I could trust,” Hongjoong casually replies, though his previous carefree demeanor has vanished. “But now, four years later… Ugh, really, I don’t like where they’ve gone. Using Levanter’s name to draw in supporters? They can do better than that.”

“That’s the reason why you’ve betrayed them?”

“Betray is a strong word,” Hongjoong scoffs. “But yes, I very much dislike that they’re using Levanter’s name to gain followers. It just goes to show this society is full of fools if they really think someone like Levanter would willingly become a villain after he gave up his dream and put himself through all that pain to become a hero.”

Minho stiffens again as Jisung and Changbin turn to look at him in shock. Had Minho’s dream not been to become a hero? Chan too is frozen, as he quietly breathes, “What did you say?”

Hongjoong looks surprised by his reaction, but he quickly starts to laugh, “So you don’t know. How funny. To think I, a villain, ended up learning more about Levanter than a friend. I suppose that’s what friends are for though. They won’t pry if you don’t want them to.”

Jisung wants to question Minho, but from the murderous look in Minho’s eyes as he glares at Hongjoong through the glass, Jisung knows it’s not his place to ask. The only thing he can do is to offer the feeling of his hand against Minho’s as support, until he feels Minho tightly squeezing his hand back.

“Still,” Hongjoong continues airily. “I could go on and on about why I dislike Levanter, but enough about him. You’re here to learn about Wonderland, remember? I could’ve ruined them myself, but it’d be boring if I took down Wonderland from the inside.”

“So you’re here because you want us to destroy an organization you failed to control,” Chan coldly says. “It just sounds like you’re afraid to take responsibility to me.”

Hongjoong cracks a smile at that, though his eyes glint with malice. “Think what you want. This is all just a game to me after all, the first steps to building my own utopia. Wonderland wants this society to fall apart. They’re people who’ve been disillusioned by this very system that’s raised you heroes up, and there’s nothing they’ll want more than to destroy it.”

The look of disdain on Chan’s face doesn’t change as he says, “You have anything new to say? You villains are always the same, complaining about society, wondering which heroes you have to defeat to leave a mark. We already know Wonderland will be targeting J.One and Lee Know, and we know they’re hoping to undermine my authority. Was is it really worth going to jail just to tell me something I already know?”

“Think what you want, but knowing that the number one hero would pay me a special visit is more than worth the trip.” Hongjoong’s sneer deepens as he tilts his head slightly downwards, glaring at Chan from his upturned eyes. “Besides, you’ve got one thing wrong, Chan. Sure, it’d be fun to be known as the organization that finally ruined the number one hero’s plans, but you know what would be more fun?”

Hongjoong lets the silence drag on, like he’s waiting for Chan to ask what he’s talking about, but Chan doesn’t give him. He simply stares back at Hongjoong, a carefully composed look of boredom on his face, until finally, like all villains do, Hongjoong cracks.

He leans back in his seat with a scowl, glaring at Chan as he says, “Fine, I’ll lay it out for you, plain and simple. Lee Know’s got quite the powerful quirk, doesn’t he? I’d even wager that his quirks stronger than Levanter’s, and we all remember the destruction Levanter caused when he was out of control, don’t we? I wonder how Lee Know would fare, under the influence of our little drug.”

Minho stiffens beside Jisung, as Chan’s gaze hardens.

“You think Wonderland’s going to try to make Lee Know lose control and get labelled as a villain,” Chan states plainly without raising his tone.

The corner of Hongjoong’s mouth quirks upwards, his malicious smirk stretching wide across his face. Chan glares back, his mouth pressed thinly into a line.

The two of them sit there in silence for a long time, locked in a staring match, before the head guard’s voice warns, “Chan, you have one more minute.”

“It’s fine,” Chan says. He gets up, staring down at Hongjoong, and says, “Very well. We’ll be taking down Wonderland, but it most definitely won’t be on your terms. Just wait. Once we take down Wonderland, we’re coming back to make sure you get your just deserts.”

“I look forward to seeing you try,” Hongjoong laughs, watching Chan leave, when the hero suddenly pauses in the doorway.

“One last thing, you admit that what happened to Levanter is your fault then?”

Hongjoong doesn’t seem to register the simmering anger in Chan’s voice. He cheerfully replies, “Yeah, I’ll take credit for that. It wasn’t hard to find someone who wanted to get revenge on Levanter for the villains he’d defeated, and honestly, he’s always been—”

“I’m not asking to hear why you did it,” Chan cuts off, turning back to Hongjoong, who immediately shuts up, a hint of trepidation on his face. Separated by a wall, even Jisung feels intimidated by the look of absolute hatred in Chan’s dark, narrowed eyes. Slowly, Chan says, “You better hope you stay in prison for a long time, Kim Hongjoong. Because if you ever get out, there’s a whole line of people waiting to get back at you for what you did. And you’d better hope I’m not the one who finds you first.”

He stalks out, his footsteps thundering through the room. As the doors close behind him, and the rest of 3RACHA are ushered out of the observation room, Jisung catches one last sight of Hongjoong, who recovers from his shock and snickers, “Ooh, how scary.”

* * *

Chan’s still seething with anger by the time they return to the agency, and it only diminishes when they see Felix and Hyunjin waiting for them in front of 3RACHA. 

“Hey,” Felix cheerfully greets the four of them with a wave. “I heard what happened to Changbin, so Hyun—” Hyunjin punches him lightly in the arm. “I mean, _we_ thought we’d drop by and see how he’s doing.”

“I’m okay,” Changbin says. “Sorry for the trouble I caused yesterday, Hyunjin. I heard from Jisung, but it was all thanks to you that you guys were able to save me.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Hyunjin hastily replies with a shy smile, a blush dusting his cheeks.

Changbin smiles brightly at Hyunjin, who quickly ducks his head, the tips of his ears turning red. Felix looks bemused as he says, “Anyways, I came over to get the samples of the parasites to analyze. Plus, I was hoping we could talk some more about what you learned about Wonderland too.”

“Sounds good,” Chan nods. He’s about to head back into the agency when he notices Minho watching Hyunjin. “Actually, Minho and Hyunjin, you haven’t had time to catch up with each other right? Felix and I can handle this, so feel free to take this time to hang out.”

“Wait, they get to take off and we don’t?” Jisung protests indignantly.

Chan rolls his eyes at Jisung’s outburst despite the grin on his face. He reaches over and pats Changbin on the shoulder. “Fine, you can take the day off too, but Changbin, you’re in charge of watching over Jisung.”

Changbin huffs, “So I have to be babysitter for the day? At the very least give me the company card or something. No way I’m paying for all of our food by myself.”

“Already thinking about food,” Chan laughs, but he hands over the card anyways, to Jisung and Changbin’s surprise. “What? You’ve both been working hard, and I know it’s been a tough week especially for you Changbin, so go treat yourself. Just don’t go crazy.”

“Okay~!” Jisung cheers, immediately grabbing on Changbin’s hand and tugging him away. He glances back once to wave good-bye to the others and chuckles at the sight of Minho also trying to convince Chan to pay for their expenses.

“You’ve really gotten attached to Minho,” Changbin comments, following Jisung’s eyes. The sullen tone is back in his voice, though a lot more diminished than before. 

Jisung makes a face at Changbin’s words, but his attention is quickly distracted by the sight of a karaoke place. Dragging Changbin along, he shouts, “Let’s go have some fun!”

They spend the rest of the afternoon like that, first singing their hearts out at the karaoke place, then moving on to a nearby cafe for a late afternoon snack. Taking a table by the window, Changbin peacefully drinks his coffee, while Jisung indulges on a slice of cheesecake, at least until his curiosity takes over.

“Hey, Changbin, I know it’s not really my place to ask, but just why do you dislike Minho so much now? You used to be friends, right?”

Changbin freezes and almost spills his coffee. Finally, he sighs. “Really, Jisung, don’t surprise me like that.”

“Sorry. It’s just, you’ve been down lately, especially after what happened to you, and I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t try to cheer you up.”

His words make Changbin smile. Changbin takes the time to stretch out his arms before he says, “Well, you’re not wrong. I was angry with Minho earlier, but after I ended up losing control of my quirk… I guess I got a taste of the fear he might’ve felt. I’d never realized how much I’d relied and trusted my quirk until I couldn’t control it anymore, but I was lucky. I knew to stay calm and come to the agency for help, but Minho… he didn’t have that. For four years, he was trapped, not knowing how to get out of his hopeless situation. No matter how angry I was at him, I realize now I was just being childish.”

Changbin leans back in his seat and scoffs, “Really, some best friend I turned out to be. I let my emotions get the better of me, even though I knew I should’ve been supporting him. At least he has you now. Even I was surprised by how easily you two got along.”

“Well, you two might not get along now, but it’s clear you must’ve once been really good friends,” Jisung says. “I mean, remember when you came in yesterday for help? How did Minho even know you were in trouble? Is Glow some kind of code word for you guys?”

“Ah, that…” Changbin falters. “I wasn’t too sure what to do either, so I thought I’d say something innocuous hoping he’d understand what I was getting at. Glow’s not a code word. It’s a song I wrote for him back in a high school, when he needed a song for a dance audition. He ended up getting way too nervous, so he messed up during audition and failed, so I thought he’d realize something had to be wrong with me if I was suggesting that he help you fail.”

Changbin laughs a little, as if something about the memory is nostalgic. “Man, he cried a lot about that. I mean, I did too for him, but he kept saying how sorry he was for wasting the effort I put into making a song for him…” 

Jisung takes in the way Changbin grips his coffee mug, his eyes staring at his reflection in his coffee. Quietly, he says, “Your feelings, it’s more than just feeling hurt by your best friend, right?”

The late afternoon sun beats down harshly on the two of them as they sit in silence by the window. The shadows cast in the room shift with the movement of the sun, dark black against the cream tiled floors. 

Finally, Changbin manages a small, bitter smile and admits, “I had a huge crush on him in high school. He was the first person who saw right through me and taught me how to open up, and I really admired how hard he was working to fulfill the vision he had for his future. I guess that’s why it really hurt when I thought he’d become a villain. I couldn’t understand it, and it felt like he was not only giving up on his dream, but he was also giving up on me and all of the other friends he was leaving behind. And now, all of a sudden he comes back, like nothing had ever happened, just as I was starting to get over my feelings for him. It frustrated me, and I ended up lashing out.”

Changbin stares at the coffee in his hands. It’d gone cold a while ago, but he brings it to his lips anyways and takes a sip. 

“So that’s why I’ve been a grouch lately. Sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into it.”

“I should be the one who’s sorry. You’re one of my best friends, Changbin. I should’ve noticed if you were feeling uncomfortable,” Jisung says. 

Changbin hits him lightly on the head. “Don’t be an idiot. It’s not your fault for not knowing how I felt about him. Honestly, I’m just glad I was able to talk this out with you.”

Jisung stares down at his half-eaten cheesecake. Quietly, he asks, “Are you planning on telling Minho about your feelings?”

Changbin laughs dryly. He sets his coffee down with a clink and stares out the window. If Jisung had looked up, he might’ve noticed that Changbin was staring at something approaching the window, as he replies, “Maybe one day, but for now, I think I’m ready to learn to be his friend again.”

A large shadow falls over them as a loud thud hits the window. Jisung leaps out of his seat and slams his knee on the corner of the table. His heart racing, he bites back the pain with a whine and snaps his head towards the window, prepared for the worst.

Minho’s face is plastered against the window, his palms pressed against the glass near his face. With puffed up cheeks, Minho’s wearing the most irritating smirk on his face as his muffled giggles come in through the glass.

Jisung thinks about banging angrily at the window back at Minho, but then he sees Changbin staring at Minho with a blank look and remembers the conversation they’ve just had. He waits for Changbin’s response. 

Minho looks disappointed that Jisung hasn’t reacted any more dramatically. It’s then that he finally seems to notice Changbin sitting on the other side of the table, and they lock eyes, Minho’s face still stuck in his silly expression with wide eyes and puffed up cheeks, his lips pressed together like a bunny caught in headlights.

Changbin suddenly snorts, breaking down into laughter as he turns slightly away from the window to stare at Jisung, who is still half on the floor. When Jisung glares back, Changbin looks towards Minho, points at Jisung and mimes a thumbs up with a grin. Jisung immediately jumps up and tries to tackle Changbin off his seat. Shadows rise up from the floor, and Changbin laughing so hard there’s tears in his eyes as he keeps Jisung at bay.

Minho’s face slackens, his eyes softening as his mouth falls slightly ajar. He watches Changbin tease Jisung, who’s still trying to fight his way through the wall of shadows, and he dips his head slightly into a small, gentle smile. When Changbin turns back to look at him, he makes the mistake of trying to stick his tongue out at him, only to end up licking the grimy window. He backs away quickly, gagging as he keeps his tongue sticking out with a disgusted look on his face. It's enough to make Changbin breaks into another burst of laughter as he watches Minho trying to wipe the grime off his tongue. 

Jisung stops struggling for a moment. It’s a sight that can’t help but make Jisung smile and take advantage of Changbin’s break in concentration, running forward and tackling his best friend with a clingy hug as he exclaims, “My favorite happy Changbin is back!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Villain Notes**  
>  Name: Kim Hongjoong  
> Villain Name: Hongjoong  
> Villain Organization: Wonderland  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: Rubber  
> Description: He can stretch and extend his body like rubber. Immune to electricity and extremely flexible.  
> Other: Founded Wonderland, but told Chan he wants us to defeat them. I need to investigate him more; he’s too suspicious. ~~I won’t forgive him for what he did to Minho.~~
> 
> * * *
> 
> I accidentally had Luffy in mind when I was thinking about the thief's powers, so I decided to go all in on the pirate theme and made the thief Hongjoong from ATEEZ. I've finally planned out what Wonderland is/wants, so hopefully I'll be able to lay out the groundwork for that as the story goes on! 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone stays safe and healthy!!


	12. A Place of Comfort

The next day, as the sun shines on another day with beautiful weather, eight heroes gather to cram into 3RACHA’s meeting room once again at the ungodly hour of eight in the morning.

“So, why are we having another meeting again?” Jisung asks with a yawn, once everyone files into the room. “Did it have to be this early?”

“Sorry, it was the only time that worked for us,” Felix apologizes with a smile. Gesturing at Seungmin, who looks perfectly awake and tidy, and Jeongin and Hyunjin, who barely have their eyes open, he replies, “I’m having the four of us increase patrols in our area throughout the day, just in case.” 

Chan smiles at him, also gesturing at Changbin. “Plus, we haven’t had a meeting with all eight of us yet, so I thought this was a good time. Besides, I believe Felix, you have some leads on the parasite?”

Felix nods. He brings out a jar, the contents of which makes everyone grimace. The lump of flesh continues to wriggle as Felix places it on the table.

“Unfortunately, these parasitic tumors consume a lot of energy to stay alive, so the one you collected from Minho was dead by the time I got it. Luckily, the ones you got from Mina and Changbin were still good, so I was able to use my quirk and analyze them,” Felix explains. “I was having a hard time coming up with a name for it, but if you want something literal, I’d call it a Quirk Takeover Serum.”

“A serum?” Jeongin exclaims, finally looking fully awake. “You’re saying that thing is like those creams you rub over your face?”

Felix rolls his eyes. “If this gross thing had skin-protecting properties, I’d have already hunted down Wonderland to give me more of it.”

Jisung laughs. It’s not hard for him to imagine Felix defeating Wonderland just for the sake of finding another step to add to his detailed skin-care routine. Felix shoots Jisung a disgruntled look and continues, “Anyways, back on topic. I believe when you visited Hongjoong yesterday, he also called it a serum? Well, it’s just like he said. What you’re looking at actually starts out as a serum that I assume Hongjoong put on his hands and arms, which then transferred to Changbin when he blocked his attack. It then seeps through the skin and mutates once it enters a person’s bloodstream before quickly growing into the flesh-like form we see here. For convenience’s sake, I’ll be calling its initial form a serum, and this current stage a parasite.”

“What’s it made of?” Changbin asks. He’s the only one staring intently at the parasite in the jar.

“That’s the thing. From my third eye, I can tell that the parasites are made out of cells, basically a person’s flesh. But when I tried cutting one open, it just vanished into a poof of smoke,” Felix says. “Same with the dead one from Minho’s body. It remained in a state where it was all shriveled up and unmoving, but the moment I stabbed it, it vanished too.”

“So basically, you’re saying if someone’s quirk goes crazy from the parasite, we just have to stab them right though it?” Hyunjin suggests.

“Well… Stabbing them’s kinda brutal, but essentially, yes, I think dealing with the parasite is as simple as being able to kill it,” Felix says. “Honestly, Jisung’s way of extracting them might be the more difficult way of doing it, though thanks to him, we’ve been able to learn about what these things actually are. Still, judging by the three cases we’ve seen so far, even if we know stabbing the parasite will make it disappear, the real question is how to even get close enough to hurt it. It’s like super sensitive to any attempts to hurt it. Watch.”

Felix suddenly swings one hand back, like he’s about to hit the jar. Immediately the parasitic flesh spasms and glows with a faint, violet light.

“It’s harmless now, but that’s it trying to use whatever quirk it used to be attached to,” Felix explains, picking the jar up. He shakes the jar, letting the lump of flesh bounce back and forth inside the jar, and muses, “Still, it’s strange.”

“What is?” Jisung asks, making a face as he watches the parasite jiggle about.

“You said Hongjoong transmitted the serum to Mina and Changbin right? It’s a serum that can be absorbed through the skin after all, so just one touch was more than enough to pass it onto them,” Felix says, finally setting the jar down on the table to look at everyone. “But then why wasn’t Hongjoong affected? I mean, it was on his skin right? Surely his own body should absorbed some of the serum too?”

Chan suddenly gets up, looking shocked. “You don’t think he—?”

“No, I don’t think Hongjoong will have lost control of his quirk,” Felix responds. “He probably would’ve shown symptoms by the time you talked to him, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think he’s too smart to willingly give up control of his quirk.”

“Maybe Wonderland has some kind of thing that prevents them from being affected? Like an antidote?” Seungmin suggests, earning Felix’s smile.

“That’s what I was wondering, but I’ll have to look into them more before I can find out. Because of that, Chan, I’m sure Wonderland will continue to target 3RACHA, especially by utilizing this serum they’ve made, so while you can probably easily destroy the parasites by stabbing them or hitting them with enough force, if you could get Jisung to extract some more parasites for me to study, I’d really appreciate it.”

Chan nods, glancing over at Jisung and Minho. What’d they’d heard from Hongjoong yesterday had basically confirmed that Wonderland was targeting the two of them in particular, perhaps for the ultimate goal of taking Chan himself down. He addresses the room, “Well then, anything else people would like to add?”

There’s a combination of shaking heads and shrugging shoulders, so Chan says, “Great. I’ll let you all know the next time we should meet again, but thank you all again for working with me on this.”

“Of course we would, Chan,” Felix says, before glancing towards Hyunjin with a grin. “Besides, if you want to thank someone, thank Hyunjin for being so eager to come back and visit 3RACHA.”

Hyunjin immediately reddens, while a smirk grows on Seungmin’s face when Seungmin adds, “Oh, speaking of which, Hyunjin, I heard you’re the one who took the parasite out of Changbin. You really must’ve been super careful, huh, if you were able to not damage it.”

“S-Seungmin!” Hyunjin splutters, straightening up in his seat indignantly, but Changbin obliviously pats his shoulder.

“I really should be thanking you for that. Let’s go grab a meal sometime, my treat. I haven’t been able to hang out with you lately,” Changbin offers.

Hyunjin’s eyes light up, though Jisung can see the tips of his ears are stilling burning red. Hyunjin grins, “Really? I won’t say no to free food!”

He feels Minho poke his arm.

“What’s his deal?” Minho asks quietly.

“Hyunjin? I don’t know, it’s funny though, how red he sometimes goes around Changbin—“

“No, not Hyunjin,” Minho says, jerking his head slightly to Jisung’s right. “Jeongin.”

Jisung turns and his eyes widen briefly. Despite the thin smile on his face, Jeongin’s thin eyes are slightly narrowed, so much that only the blacks of pupils are showing. He’s watching Changbin and Hyunjin with an expression Jisung can’t decipher, and he can see no one else in the room has noticed. Quietly, he says, “Hey, Jeongin?”

Jeongin snaps to attention, turning to Jisung with a wide and genuine smile. The change is so drastic it makes Jisung wonder if he was simply imagining things a moment ago. Before Jisung can say anything, Jeongin loudly says, “Hey, Jisung you owe me a lunch remember? Let’s go get breakfast instead! I’m starving!”

“What, wait when did I say I’d buy you lunch?” Jisung protests.

“When I saved you while we were fighting the mud villain!” Jeongin laughs, already getting up and pulling Jisung out of his seat. He turns to Minho and says, “Want to come, Lee Know? I know Jisung’s supposed to be watching over you most of the time, and I want to get to know you too.”

“Wait, Jeongin,” Seungmin speaks up. “You’re supposed go on patrol with me—”

“In the afternoon, right?” Jeongin whines. “Come on, pleaseeeee? I promise I’ll work extra hard when we get back.”

Jisung supposes the effect of Jeongin’s puppy eyes and pout is too much for anyone to actually say no to. Jeongin’s always had that effect, even during the brief time Jisung had known him in high school. One simply can't help but baby Jeongin and give into his requests, especially once he amps up his cuteness.

Seungmin sighs defeatedly, while Felix just cheerfully pats his boyfriend on the shoulder. He smiles brightly at Jeongin and says, “It’s fine if you take off for breakfast, but be back before lunch okay?”

“You too, Jisung and Minho. It’s about time you two resumed patrol duty as well,” Chan adds as Jeongin cheers and starts dragging the two of them out the door.

Jisung sticks his tongue out at Chan, while Minho just waves, laughing, “Don’t worry Chan. I wouldn’t skip patrol duty for the world.”

“You like patrol duty that much?” Jeongin asks incredulously.

“No, not particularly,” Minho replies. “But during the time I spent hiding from everyone as a villain, I realized I kinda missed it, as mundane as it was.”

They stop by the main office so Minho and Jisung can grab face masks and hats to hide their identity, and Jeongin excitedly takes a baseball cap with the 3RACHA logo etched on when it’s offered to him. He puts it on and cheers, “Yay, free 3RACHA merch!”

“You’re giving that back okay,” Jisung teases, pressing the cap tighter on Jeongin’s fluffy hair. “Now where did you want to go for breakfast?”

After a quick subway ride, Jeongin leads them all the way across the city, chatting up a storm as they make their way towards where Dawn is located. It’s an older part of the city, with more traditional houses and small neighborhoods, which is why Jisung isn’t surprised when Jeongin takes them into a small, run-down restaurant hidden on a narrow deserted street.

“I’m impressed you were able to find a place like this,” Jisung comments as Jeongin walks inside, a bell on the door ringing to announce their entrance. Other than the door and the windows facing the street, the only thing suggesting this place is a restaurant are the four empty tables and the similarly empty serving counter beside a closed door in the back of the room. Jeongin sits them down at one of the tables.

“I answered a call to stop a robbery here once, so the owner treated me to a meal afterwards,” Jeongin grins. “Honestly though, I can’t stop coming back. The food here’s amazing.”

“We’re honored that you think that. You’re one of the boss’s favorite regulars, after all.”

Jisung looks up and feels his breath being taken away. The waitress is a beautiful young woman with long violet hair sweeping down past her shoulders, her piercing eyes a matching color under the lighting. She smiles warmly at Jeongin, and comments, “New hat?”

“Yep! Gotta promote my favorite music trio,” Jeongin snickers, ignoring the glare Jisung shoots him from under the rim of his hat as he mouths, “You’re only borrowing it!”

The waitress’s smile widens before studying Jisung and Minho with a curious look. “I see you’ve brought new friends this time.”

“Gotta introduce everyone to this place’s amazing food,” Jeongin grins back.

The waitress turns to Jisung and Minho, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiles down at them. “Well, my name is Minji, and welcome to our humble little restaurant. Our menu’s really just dependent on what the boss feels like making, so today for breakfast, we have scrambled eggs, rice, and some side dishes. Does that sound good?”

“Sure,” Jisung replies, as Jeongin nods excitedly. Minho also gives a tart nod, but his eyes stay on Minji even after she smiles and turns to leave.

“Minho?” Jisung quietly asks, poking his side. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Minho mumbles, watching as Minji disappears behind the back door. “She’s pretty stealthy for a waitress. I didn’t notice her coming up to us at all.”

“Ah, it’s probably because she used to be a hero,” Jeongin replies, his smile widening. “From what I heard, she mostly did jobs that needed stealth before she decided to go into the restaurant business.”

“So from hero to… waitress?” Jisung echoes, furrowing his eyebrows. “That’s kinda a big jump.”

“I mean, she also helps with the cooking here, though if you’re asking me,” Jeongin grins, “I think it’s mostly because she likes the owner.”

“Hey, keep your gossiping to a minimum!” Minji’s voice echoes from behind the door.

“Sorry!” Jeongin shouts back, though he’s still smiling widely.

It’s a sight that makes Jisung smile too. “You really like coming here, huh?”

“Hmm? Well, yeah, I do,” Jeongin says. “The food’s good, and the people here are good to me too. It’s a nice place to take my mind off of things.”

There’s a hint of bitterness to his words, as Jeongin twiddles his thumbs, looking around the restaurant even though it’s clear he’s been here more than enough times to know the details of the few decorations on the walls. Jisung and Minho exchange a look, before Jisung tentatively asks, “Hey, Jeongin, is everything—?”

The door to the restaurant flies open, the bell ringing wildly as a young girl with slightly wavy brown hair bursts through the door, shouting, “Min~Ji~! I’m here!”

They hear the sound of pounding footsteps, and the back door flies open too. Minji hastily walks over and lightly flicks the girl on the forehead. She scolds, “How many times do I need to tell you there’s no need to announce your arrival like that?”

The girl finally notices the trio and waves at them with a bright smile. “Oh, hello! Sorry about that. It’s been a while since I last saw you, I.N.!”

She turns back to Minji. “Anyways, give me the usual! I’m starving~!”

The girl sits down on the opposite side of the room as Minji sighs. She sends the three heroes an apologetic smile and says, “I’ll have your food out soon, okay?”

After she leaves, Jisung leans over the table, his eyes watching the young teenage girl happily engrossed with her phone. He whispers to Jeongin, “Who’s that? It’s way too early to be that energetic.”

“She’s another regular I see sometimes,” Jeongin replies. “Everyone I see here obviously knows I’m a hero, so they’re always pretty friendly to me too. I haven’t talked to her much, but she’s always that bubbly and cheerful every time I see her.”

“Do you know her name?” Minho asks out of curiosity.

Jeongin turns slightly red. He looks down at the table and mumbles, “No, I never got the chance to ask.”

“Her name’s Chaeryeong,” Minji says, startling Jisung and Minho who jump slightly in their seats. She laughs at their reaction. “Sorry, I really should stop surprising my customers. Here’s your food.”

She places an assortment of side dishes for them on the table before giving them each their portion of food. Jisung’s mouth is already watering as he stares down at the delectable food, his eyes shining as he says to Minji, “Wow, this looks amazing!”

“Just wait till you try it,” Jeongin grins, already digging into his food. Jisung catches Minji staring down at Jeongin with an affectionate look, before the waitress leaves to let them enjoy their food in peace.

It’s arguably one of the best breakfasts that Jisung has had in a long time. There’s something about the food that makes Jisung feel warm inside, like he’s suddenly been transported back home, enjoying breakfast with his mom before heading off to school. Jisung just as quickly blocks the memory from his mind, refusing to open the floodgate of memories bound to consume him if he thinks too hard about his mom.

He wonders if that’s why the food tastes so good. It tastes just like his mom’s cooking.

When they finish eating, Minji comes back to take away their dishes, and Jisung, for once, is happy to take care of the bill, just because he can see how much Jeongin loves the food here. Minji catches Jeongin staring again at the girl named Chaeryeong, who’s also happily devouring her breakfast and quietly teases with a smile, “Does our favorite hero have a little crush?”

Jeongin snaps to attention, his ears turning red. He stammers, “What? No, I’m just—I always feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before outside this restaurant, but I can’t remember where…”

Then, in an even quieter voice that Jisung barely catches, Jeongin mutters, “Besides, there’s already someone I like.”

Minji gently pats Jeongin on the head as if to comfort him, when suddenly a scream pierces their ears. Everyone turns to the windows, just in time to see a masked man run by, a bagful of cash in his hands, and vanish from sight. The three heroes leap to their feet, but before they can even move, a low bass sound fills the street, exploding with a loud bang. The villain is thrown back, his body flying again past the windows in the direction he’d come from.

“What the—?” Jisung runs out of the restaurant, hastily followed by Minho and Jeongin, before stopping in his tracks. The villain is completely knocked out on the ground, a civilian shop owner a few streets down running towards them. Jisung looks in the direction the attack on the villain had come from, and he immediately bursts into a big grin.

“Seungmin! Just in time!” he cheers, as Seungmin strolls up, one hand in his pocket and the other still held out in the villain’s direction, lingering air tremors surrounding his outstretched hand. Seungmin waves at them.

“What are you doing here?” Jeongin asks.

“No real reason. I had a feeling you’d be here, so I thought I’d pass by during my patrol,” Seungmin replies. “I guess it paid off.”

“How’d you know he was here?” Minho asks. He’s keeping an eye on the villain, making sure he doesn’t wake up, while handing the bag of cash back to a gracious store keeper.

“He’s always talking about his favorite restaurant,” Seungmin says airily. “Besides he’s always here when he…”

Seungmin suddenly trails off, pressing his lips tight as he stares at Jeongin, but the silence is broken by Minji again, who had followed the heroes out of the restaurant. She peers curiously at the villain. As she pulls out her phone to call the police, she says, “I.N. likes to come here to eat when he wants to mope.”

“Minji!” Jeongin gasps, turning to her looking like he’s been betrayed. Minho hums knowingly, but Jisung alone frowns and asks, “What’s he need to mope about?”

Seungmin shakes his head, laughing. “You’ve always been slow about things like this sometimes.”

After the police arrive and the villain is safely escorted away, the heroes bid good-bye to Minji and her restaurant and follow Seungmin on his patrol. As soon as the restaurant is out of sight, Seungmin says, “Chan wanted you to be back soon, by the way.”

“He said we had till noon!” Jisung protests.

“Not for hero work,” Seungmin laughs. “He said he just came up with a good song idea and wanted you to come look at it.”

“Ooh, let’s hurry back then, Minho,” Jisung says excitedly, his mood doing a 180. Jisung eagerly waves goodbye to Seungmin and I.N. before dragging Minho along to the nearest subway station.

“You’re sure fired up,” Minho says, the moment they get onto the subway.

“Of course! It’s been a while since I’ve been able to work on a song with Chan and Changbin,” Jisung says. “I got to know Changbin through music after all, and it’s how I ended up at 3RACHA too. We might be heroes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be musicians too.”

Minho smiles. He pats Jisung on the head, pressing his hat further down on his head. “You’re kinda cute when you get all excited.”

“Wha—!” Jisung pulls his hat further down over his eyes to hide the rush of blood to his cheeks. He’s not used to being called cute, and he especially doesn’t know how to feel about it when it’s coming from Minho, who’s arguably one of the prettiest people he’s ever met. They sit there in silence for the rest of the ride, though Jisung can feel Minho grinning with a satisfied look the whole way. Only after they get off the subway does Jisung remember something important.

“Ah! We forgot to get the 3RACHA hat back from Jeongin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Kim Seungmin 💖💖💖  
> Hero Name: Young Wings  
> Agency: Dawn  
> Blood Type: A  
> Quirk: Booster  
> Description: He can emit and amplify high frequency waves from his body like a sound booster and can attack his opponents with waves of sound. He can also use it to fly by propelling his body with sound waves, and is best known for being able to create an illusion of wings on his back. ~~I wish he’d take care of himself better.~~ It’s a powerful quirk that can disrupt all air space around him in a large radius!


	13. A New Lead

In the week that follows, while Chan and Jisung are consumed with creating their song, Changbin, still recovering from the weak state his body had been left in by the parasite, takes three days to write the lyrics for their new song before immersing himself back into physical training. Minho alone ends up taking over all the hero work needed to keep the agency afloat, from patrol work to paperwork, stopping petty criminals and investigating rumors about Wonderland. By the time 3RACHA finally take a break, Jisung realizes not only has Minho been able to spread the name of Lee Know far and wide, but…

“You’re a higher ranking hero than me now??!!!!” Jisung shouts, leaping out of his seat when he checks the hero rankings.

“It’s what you get for neglecting your real job,” Minho laughs from the couch while unpacking some take-out he’d ordered for lunch. “Maybe the three of you should hole up more often. I might even be able to take Chan’s number one spot at this rate.”

“In your dreams,” Changbin scoffs, though he too hurries over to Jisung to peer at the hero rankings before letting out a sigh.

“What, worried I had beaten you too, SpearB?” Minho smirks, waving the two of them over. “Come and eat. It’s not the healthiest, but it’s about time you guys had some real food.”

Jisung’s mouth waters at the assortment of fried chicken and pizza that Minho has laid out on the table. Jisung and Changbin are quick to dig in, but Minho asks, “Is Chan not going to join us?”

“Nah, he’s still fine-tuning some stuff. It’s better to let him finish than distract him. Who knows when’ll be the next time he gets to work on his music, especially with the threat of Wonderland looming over our heads,” Changbin says through a mouthful of chicken. 

Jisung gulps down his food and catches a worried look in Minho’s eye. “He’ll be fine, Minho. Chan knows his limits. We’ll leave him some leftovers and then when he’s done working, we can treat him to a big meal and force him to sleep, how’s that?”

His words make Minho laugh. “I’d prefer getting him to rest now, but if the two of you say it’s all right, it can’t be helped.”

“Well, no one’s more stubborn than Chan when it comes to music, so the least we can do is make sure he takes care of himself afterwards,” Changbin replies. Minho smiles at him and gives him a drumstick in response, which Changbin gobbles up without hesitation.

That’s probably another change Jisung has noticed over the past week, in the few times he had taken breaks to see what Minho and Changbin were up to. After his chat with Changbin, Jisung has noticed a more cordial atmosphere between Minho and Changbin. They’re still on edge with each other, like they don’t know how to pick up the pieces of their broken friendship, but he catches Changbin reaching out more often to Minho, giving him tips on how to incorporate his dance moves into a fighting style and secretly taking care of some of the chores and paperwork when Minho is out on patrol. It’s an improvement to the heavy tension that had once been between them, but Jisung hopes they’ll be able to sort out their problems soon, whether by talking it out, or some new issue that might bring them together.

As if reading his mind, the door suddenly flies open. Immediately, Minho’s hands fly up to cover his face, and Jisung shoves Minho’s face down, hiding it from view. He takes one look at the door and complains, “Hyunjin, learn to knock!”

“Ah, sorry,” Hyunjin apologizes, closing the door behind him. “I was in such a rush I forgot. Did I disturb your lunch?”

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not like we can’t deal with whatever you need at the same time,” Changbin replies, wiping his greasy fingers off on a napkin. “What’s up?”

“Ah, I was wondering if you could help me with a case,” Hyunjin says as he walks over to see what they’re eating. Changbin pats the spot next to him, and Hyunjin takes a seat next to Changbin, setting his bag down by his feet. He continues, “My cousin Yeji came to me this morning to ask for help. She wanted me to find someone for her.”

“A missing person case?” Jisung chews his food thoughtfully for a few moments. He swallows and declares, “Not that I don’t want to help, but Hyunjin, it sounds like something you could’ve taken care of your own.” 

“Unless there was something about the case that made you seek for more help?” Changbin adds, studying Hyunjin’s face carefully.

Hyunjin nods. He pulls out his phone and shows them a photo. “It’s the girl on the right. Her name’s—”

“Ah, isn’t that Chaeryeong?” Jisung says, squinting at the photo. “Minho, look, it’s her! That girl in the restaurant!”

“You saw her?” Hyunjin demands. 

“Yeah, about a week ago, after our last meeting,” Jisung says. “We saw her at the breakfast place we went to with Jeongin. You’re saying she’s gone missing?”

Hyunjin nods. “Yeji said Chaeryeong stopped replying to any of her and her friends’ messages around three days ago. Normally, I’d just go about the city, asking the trees and plants if they’d seen her, but Yeji said that a week or so ago, Chaeryeong suddenly started talking about an online friend that she’d made. Said his name was Young K, or at least that’s what he went by. Apparently they’d hit it off due to their shared background as former aspiring heroes and were planning to meet up in real life, which just happens to be around the time she disappeared. I said I’d look into it, but…”

“You didn’t like what you found,” Minho finishes.

Hyunjin nods. He pulls out a binder from his bag and flips through it as he says, “It’s not a villain name, but after going through Felix’s villain notes, I found something. Remember the incident that practically established Chan as the number one hero?”

Minho and Changbin nod, but it’s neither of their voices that speaks.

“The Kang Mafia Raid,” Jisung says before he can stop himself. He regrets it immediately when Hyunjin turns to him in surprise.

“Oh, I didn’t think you’d know about it, Jisung,” Hyunjin says.

“I should at least know why my boss is famous, right?” Jisung weakly defends himself. “I did do my research before applying to join 3RACHA, you know. Is it really that surprising?”

“I guess not,” Hyunjin says. “Though considering you didn’t even care to know who Levanter was before…”

He shuts his mouth, stealing a glance at Minho, who smiles back, though his smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “It’s ok. You don’t have to act like it’s something you can’t talk about around me. Just call them my crimes.”

“But—!”

“Enough about me. What does the Kang Mafia have to do with Chaeryeong going missing?” Minho cuts off, his tone signaling that that was the end of the discussion.

Hyunjin slowly looks away from Minho before finally placing his binder on the table. He points to the mug shot on the page it’s opened to, and Jisung tries to ignore the way his heart drops.

“That’s Kang Younghyun, better known as the villain Sweet Chaos. He’s the son of the former leader of the Kang mafia, and although he was captured during the raid, he managed to escape when the vehicle transporting him to prison suddenly crashed. No one’s been able to find him since.”

“That was five years ago though. Why’s he important now?” Changbin asks.

Hyunjin points to a small note Felix had made at the bottom of his notes. Jisung reads aloud, “His friends call him… Young K?”

Jisung looks up at Hyunjin with a skeptical look. “Really, that’s it?”

“It’s a possibility right?” Hyunjin huffs. “Plus, if it really is Sweet Chaos, there’s a chance he’s connected to Wonderland. He would’ve lost everything during the Kang Mafia Raid, and he was going to prison for life for his crimes. There’s no way he doesn’t hate heroes. If anyone’s waiting for a chance to wreck havoc on our society, being part of Wonderland is the best chance they’ve got right now.”

Minho’s staring down at Felix’s notes thoughtfully. Finally he nods. “It’s a big jump, but given how little we know about Wonderland, it’s worth considering the worst possibilities we can think of. If it’s really Sweet Chaos who lured Chaeryeong out, whatever the reason, we should find her as quickly as possible.”

Jisung however maintains his frown. “Still, don’t you think it’s weird? No one’s been able to find him for five years. If he’s planning something, why even use a name that can be traced back to him?”

“Maybe he thinks enough time’s passed for people to have forgotten about him?” Hyunjin says. “I mean, I doubt any official documents would note a nickname his friends had for him, and Felix probably only found out about it through his quirk.”

Jisung nods, but under his breath, he mutters to himself, “That’s not like him at all.”

“Jisung?”

Jisung snaps to attention. Minho’s staring at him with an unreadable look in his eyes that makes Jisung’s heart rate quicken. He can’t tell if Minho has overheard him or not, so he hastily diverts attention from himself by saying, “We should hurry and go find Chaeryeong then! Hyunjin, do you have any leads?”

“I was planning on heading to where she lives to see if I could find out where she’d gone from there.”

“Then how about you and Changbin start there?” Minho says, his eyes still trained on Jisung. “Jisung and I can head to the restaurant and ask if she’s been there in the past few days, and we’ll update each other if we find anything. Sounds good?”

Hyunjin and Changbin nods. Jisung avoids Minho’s gaze, his heart pounding in his ears as Changbin and Minho get up to go grab their hero costumes. Meanwhile, Hyunjin hangs back by the door with Jisung, who catches Hyunjin fiddling with the hem of jacket sleeve. In an attempt to distract himself from his nerves, he quietly asks, “Is something bothering you?”

Hyunjin looks over at Jisung in surprise before leaning back against the wall with a sigh. He says, “You went out to eat with Jeongin last week right? How was he?”

“Fine?” Jisung says, recalling how cheerful Jeongin was the entire way to the restaurant. Then he remembers what the waitress and Seungmin had said. “Or maybe not completely fine? I don’t know. He looked fine, but apparently the restaurant we went to is where he also likes to go to mope.”

Hyunjin sighs, concern growing on his face. “I thought so. He’s been kinda distant lately, butwhen I tried to ask him what was wrong, he just brushed me off and said he was fine. You know how he tries to act tough all the time. I thought if I gave it time, he’d eventually tell me what was bothering him, but this past week, he’s just been giving me all sorts of excuses as for why he doesn’t have the time to hang out after work.”

“Excuses?”

“Stuff like meeting with high school friends, or being forced to stay late at the office to fill out paperwork. Little things like that,” Hyunjin explains before suddenly throwing his hands up in the air, making an incredulous look. “But then yesterday, he tells me he can’t meet up because he signed up for night patrol. Can you imagine that? Our adorable Yang Jeongin, wandering the city alone in the dark without anyone except drunk people and petty criminals around?”

Hyunjin sighs and presses one hand to his face. “I know he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a hero who can take care of himself, but we all know he’d never take a night shift.”

Jisung thinks back to when they were all in high school together. While Jeongin wasn’t the type to sleep early, Jisung also knows how easily Jeongin dozes off, even if he’s in the middle of watching something. Added to the fact that not only is Jeongin a big people person despite his many complaints about being the object of affection amongst his friends, but also that Felix would ever approve of Jeongin doing a night shift so early in his hero career, Jisung can’t help but laugh. “He’s totally avoiding you.”

“I knew it,” Hyunjin miserably grumbles, hanging his head to one side dejectedly. “I wonder if I did something to make Jeongin hate me.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jisung says, reaching out to pat Hyunjin on the shoulder. “We all know how much Jeongin likes you. There’s no way he could ever hate you. He’s probably just going through puberty or something.”

“At nineteen?” Hyunjin says, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe it’s his fox genes,” Jisung shrugs. He suddenly remembers Minji teasing Jeongin in the restaurant and says, “Or maybe he’s just moody because he likes someone.”

“He likes someone?” Hyunjin exclaims. “Who?”

“Beats me,” Jisung shrugs, his guard back up when he sees Changbin and Minho return, eager to hurry out. “Go ask him yourself when you see him. He can’t run away from you forever.”

* * *

“Hmm? Chaeryeong? I haven’t seen her lately. Is something wrong?” 

Minji looks concerned as she sets aside some used dishes on a table, brushing some stray strands of hair from her face. Jisung and Minho exchange a glance before Minho speaks up, “We don’t think she’s in trouble, but her friends haven’t been able to contact her in a while, so they got worried. Do you have any ideas on where she normally hangs out?”

“I only ever see her when she comes by to eat,” Minji says, pursing her lips. “She has mentioned that there’s a cafe she likes to go to when she wants to be alone. I think it’s called Cafe Twice? I’m sorry I don’t have more information for you two.”

“Don’t worry, that’s already a good lead for us to follow. Thank you, Minji,” Minho says with a cordial smile.

Minji beams brightly back. She suddenly straightens up and says, “Wait here.”

She hastens off through the backdoor and soon returns with two small paper bags in her hand. She holds them out to Minho and Jisung. “Please take this. Boss made some extra meat buns, and you heroes are always working so hard.”

“Oh, we couldn’t possibly—”

“Please,” Minji insists, thrusting the bags into their hands. “Chaeryeong’s a good girl, and I really hope you find her.”

Jisung already feels his mouth watering at the smell of the steaming buns Minji’s given them. He bows his head in thanks, but before they leave, Jisung asks, “By the way, I don’t think I’ve asked, but what’s the name of this restaurant?”

Minji laughs, covering her mouth with one hand. “We’re such a small place we initially just named it Happy Place. It’s just a place to make our customers happy after all. Though, if I had to say what our place is really called…”

Minji looks to her right, where a small picture frame hangs against the wall. It’s a painting of a faded purple sky that bleeds into black at the edges, streaked with glittering shooting stars and a single word written across it.

“I’d call this place DayDream. It’s got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

* * *

Jisung chews thoughtfully on the meat buns. Just like last time, the flavor brings back vivid memories of his childhood. It’s so similar that it almost brings Jisung chills. 

“Hey, Jisung, are you okay?”

Jisung shakes free from his thoughts. Minho’s staring at him concernedly as they make their way through the streets. He nods stiffly, but before he can take another step, Minho grabs him by the collar and pins him to the side of a building. Minho’s only barely taller, but his gaze in intense as Jisung stares back, unblinking. Jisung snaps, “What?”

“You’ve been acting off since we left. I thought it was something I might’ve said, but now I think it’s because you’re trying to hide something from me,” Minho says, leaning closer to lock eyes with Jisung. “Well? Out with it.”

“You’re imagining things,” Jisung dryly laughs, brushing Minho off. He knows he’s been acting weird, but maybe this means Minho hadn’t heard him back in the office. If he can just keep up the act…

“Fine, I’ll get straight to the point. You’re hiding something about the villain Sweet Chaos.”

Jisung freezes, his eyes boring holes into the concrete sidewalk beneath him. Minho sighs loudly behind him. He pats Jisung on the back and says, “You’re such an open book, Jisung. At least try and deny it.”

“I’m not hiding anything,” Jisung stubbornly says. “I just researched the Kang Mafia when I was trying to get into 3RACHA, that’s all.”

“And I believe you.”

Jisung looks up in surprise. Minho’s smiling gently back before he grabs Jisung’s hand, dragging him along behind him. Looking straight ahead, Minho says, “If that’s what you want me to believe, I will. I’m not going to pry if you don’t want me to, Jisung, so there’s no need to feel so on edge about it. You can tell me the truth when you feel comfortable, or you don’t need to tell me at all. As long as you’re not hiding information that might harm yourself or others, I won’t ask.”

“Why not?”

“Because then I’d have to tell you everything about myself too.”

Jisung stares at the back of Minho’s head, his blue hair dotted with patches of sunlight seeping through the tree leaves overhead. He wonders if Minho has the same expression as he does on his face, a mask of smiles hiding the things he’s decided he can’t ever share with the world. He squeezes Minho’s hand and surprisingly feels better when Minho squeezes back, the pressure of their linked hands grounding them to the task at hand.

Soon, they see a cute, bubbly sign for Cafe Twice. It’s located in the middle of a pedestrian street, surrounded by other cafes and restaurants, with an outdoor seating area. Even from a distance, it’s clear there’s only one customer currently sitting outside, and it’s a girl with familiar wavy brown hair.

“She’s seriously here?” Minho mutters, before Jisung tugs his hand and forces him to stop. 

“This doesn’t make sense,” Jisung whispers to Minho, pulling him along to hide behind the signboard of another restaurant. They peer out at Chaeryeong again, who’s sitting alone at a table, sipping on a cup of coffee. “Was she just ignoring her friends?”

“Who knows? Maybe she’s mad at them for something,” Minho suggests, when someone bounds right by their hiding spot. Jisung watches the person, who’s dressed in a beige knit vest over a collared short sleeved short and slacks. His eyes narrow the moment he recognizes the head of slightly curled black hair as a familiar voice rings out, “Hey, you’re Lee Chaeryeong, right?”

Jisung watches as Chaeryeong startles, her eyes snapping to Jeongin, whose back is currently to them. Her voice is too quiet to hear from where they’re hiding, but she smiles as Jeongin takes a seat across from her. 

“Were they planning to meet up?” Jisung whispers. 

Minho shakes his head. “She looks surprised to see him. He probably just saw her and wanted to say hi. He’s real friendly, isn’t he?”

“That’s Jeongin’s charming point. He loves people, and it’s hard not to love him back.”

Jisung continues to observe the two from a distance for a little while more, before finally sighing. “Come on, we might as well stop being creepy and go say hi. If she’s really just ignoring her friends, we’ll just tell her to message them and be done with this.”

“Jisung, wait,” Minho holds out a hand. Jisung realizes Minho’s expression has suddenly gone serious. Minho says, “Notice anything weird?”

Jisung looks up and down the street. There’s no strange activity. Everything looks normal, if only because other than Chaeryeong and Jeongin, there’s no one on the street. No pedestrians, no waiters coming in and out of restaurants, not even someone to shoo them away from hiding behind a signboard.

Jisung’s eyes suddenly widen. “Is this street supposed to be this deserted?”

“We’ll see,” Minho says, and he steps out from where they’re hiding, Jisung hurrying behind him, not understanding what Minho means. They get closer to Chaeryeong’s table, and Minho calls out, his voice crisp and clear in the empty street, “Hey, your name’s Chaeryeong, right?”

Chaeryeong looks away from Jeongin and smiles brightly when she sees Minho and Jisung walking over. Waving at them, she says, “That’s me. Do you need something from me, Lee Know, J.One?”

Minho’s all smiles as he approaches, but he pulls Jisung close and whispers, “Remember how surprised she was to see Jeongin?”

Jisung nods as he waves hello to Jeongin, who’s just turned around and noticed them.

“Then why isn’t she surprised to see us?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Villain Notes**  
>  Name: Kang YoungHyun  
> Villain Name: Sweet Chaos  
> Villain Organization: Kang Mafia  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: **CLASSIFIED**  
>  Description: **CLASSIFIED**  
>  Other: Heir and only child of Kang Mafia leader. Skilled fighter and trained killer. During his trial, **CLASSIFIED**. Escaped when his transport vehicle crashed. His friends call him Young K.


	14. Just Wanna be Me

Jisung’s heart is pounding by the time they reach Chaeryeong’s table. He hastily sends a text to Hyunjin, saying where they’d found Chaeryeong before tucking his phone away. Minho keeps a steady hand on his shoulder as he says, “Your friends asked us to look for you. They’ve been worried since you haven’t been in contact.”

“Ah, sorry, my phone broke the other day,” Chaeryeong says airily. “I’ll remember to contact them later.”

“That’s not good!” Jeongin exclaims, immediately standing up and pulling out his phone. “Here, I’ll lend you my phone!”

Chaeryeong stares blankly at Jeongin before lowering her eyes to the table. She deflects, “Thanks, but I don’t know their phone numbers.”

Jeongin’s expression falls briefly, but he brightens up again and suggests, “What about their social media? You should at least let your friends know—”

“Jeongin,” Jisung says, pulling Jeongin aside by the arm. Chaeryeong is staring down at the table now, her fingers crossed tightly in front of her. He whispers, “I know you mean well, but maybe she has her reasons for not wanting to contact them now. Also, you’re not one to talk.”

“What?”

“You’ve been avoiding Hyunjin, haven’t you? He’s been worried too. If you’re going to meddle in someone else’s affairs, at least talk with your own friends first.”

Jeongin’s expression darkens. He shakes Jisung off and mutters, “That’s different.”

He sits back down and promptly refuses to look at Jisung any longer. The atmosphere around the small cafe table is heavy, as Chaeryeong stares down at her hands and Jisung at Jeongin, everyone at a loss for words. 

Minho’s still studying Chaeryeong carefully, but his voice is bright in comparison to his serious expression. “Mind if we join you? We haven’t had lunch yet.”

_What a lie_ , Jisung thinks, the ridiculous amount of pizza and chicken they’d just eaten still sitting heavily in his stomach. Luckily, it works, as Chaeryeong smiles up at them and nods. Just as they sit down, the door to the cafe opens and a waitress walks out towards them. Her eyes have a blank look to them as she smiles and says, “How can I help you?”

“Three ice coffees please,” Minho says, keeping a firm grip on Jisung as if to prevent him from saying anything. The waitress nods and heads back into the cafe. Minho stares intensely at her retreating figure, before Chaeryeong breaks the silence.

“How did you find me?”

“Ah, Minji, the waitress at DayDream? She said you might be here,” Jisung replies.

Chaeryeong nods. “I see she knows me pretty well.”

“You’re really close to the people who work there,” Jisung states before glancing at Jeongin. “They must be really nice people.”

“They are,” Jeongin finally speaks up, a smile creeping up onto his face despite himself. “Good food comes from good people after all.”

After a beat of silence, Minho takes the chance to ask, “By the way, Jeongin, what are you doing here?”

“I’m not working today, so I thought I’d wander around, take my mind off some things,” Jeongin says with a shrug. “I saw Chaeryeong here, so I came over to say hi. Sorry again if I disturbed your lunch.”

“No, it’s fine.” Chaeryeong returns Jeongin’s beaming smile. Something feels off to Jisung, however, as if her smile was both genuine and fake at the same time. She continues, “Besides, it was nice seeing you outside of DayDream for once.”

“I thought you two didn’t know each other,” Minho comments.

“Oh, that’s right, I finally remembered where I’ve seen Chaeryeong before!” Jeongin excitedly says, bouncing slightly in his seat. “We were in the hero course at JYP High together! She was in a different class and transferred before the year ended, so that’s why I wasn’t able to remember her immediately, but I’m glad we got to reconnect like this!”

“Ah, TMT did mention that,” Jisung says, thinking back to what Hyunjin had told them about Chaeryeong. “Do you mind me asking why you dropped out of the hero course?”

Chaeryeong’s eyes turn downwards as her smile grows thin. She says, “Sorry, it’s not something I really talk about.”

“That’s totally fine. I’m sorry for asking,” Jisung says. “It’s not my right to pry.”

Minho glances at Jisung when he says that. Jisung ignores him and continues. “Still, it’s good that you seem to be fine. Your friends were worried something bad had happened to you.” 

She looks surprised by his words and again reluctantly nods, hanging her head slightly. Quietly she says, “I do have really good friends, don’t I?”

“You do,” Jisung says, “but don’t look so down. There might be times when you don’t get along with your friends, but at the end of the day, you’ll work things out!”

Staring down at her half-finished cup of coffee, Chaeryeong sighs quietly and fixes Jisung with an earnest smile that catches him off guard. She says, “You’re good at acting optimistic.”

“That’s one thing J.One’s got going for him,” Minho speaks up, though his eyes are on Chaeryeong. He sighs dramatically, “Speaking of cheering people up, I really wish they’d hurry up with our coffee.”

“Oh, true, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Chaeryeong comments, her fingers tapping the table. “I wonder… oh look she’s finally here.”

The waitress comes out carrying three coffees right on cue, gracefully balancing them on a tray and setting them down on the table. “Sorry for the wait. Is there anything else I can get you?”

“No thanks, we’re good for now,” Minho replies with a polite smile, and the waitress again starts walking away.

“I like iced americanos more than plain old ice coffee,” Jisung grumbles, picking up his glass and swirling the ice inside with the straw.

“I’m paying for it, so don’t complain,” is all Minho says. Suddenly a huge gust of wind explodes from Minho’s body, ripping through the outdoor cafe area. A few chairs knock over with a crash, and Jisung shuts his eyes tight, blinded by the wind. In his panic, he drops his glass, which shatters against the cobblestone streets, and he yelps loudly as the icy liquid splashes onto his clothes.

The wind vanishes just as quickly. In the silence that follows, only the creaking sound of the cafe door opening and closing reaches their ears.

Jisung’s eyes snap open, his jacket completely soaked. Jeongin and Chaeryeong still look stunned by the sudden wind, frozen in their seats, but Jisung’s eyes are fixed fiercely on Minho, who alone looks perfectly composed.

“Lee Know, that was you wasn’t it?” Jisung shouts indignantly, leaping out of his seat and glaring daggers at Minho.

“Jisung, does that really matter right now?”

“Don’t play dumb. I felt that wind coming from you,” Jisung snaps, grabbing a handful of napkins off the table and angrily dabbing at his soaked jacket. “What did you do that for?”

He catches sight of Minho rolling his eyes behind his mask. Before he can make another angry comment, Minho says, “Really, Jisung, calm down and think. A huge wind comes out of nowhere, knocking over some furniture, a customer loudly spills his coffee and breaks a glass. If you were a waiter here, what would you do?”

“What, I don’t know, I… I’d come and check on the customer I guess,” Jisung mutters as he angrily scrubs at his jacket with his napkin. His mind suddenly replays the sound of the cafe door creaking open and closed again, and Jisung snaps his head up to look at Minho in shock. He gasps, “You don’t mean?”

Minho points an accusing finger in the direction of the door, behind which the waitress had just disappeared. He’s staring straight at Chaeryeong, as he says, “That’s right. That waitress just walked away like nothing had happened. Almost as if someone had told her to go back to the cafe but was too surprised by the wind to remember to tell her to come back. Isn’t that right, Chaeryeong?”

Jisung gulps as he watches Chaeryeong’s stunned expression shift upon hearing Minho’s words. Her mouth stretches wide into a smile just like the one she’s worn this whole time, but her eyes narrow slightly, her smile tinted with something sinister. She giggles, “I’m impressed, Lee Know. I was wondering when one of you would call me out, but your mind’s sharper than I thought. What gave it away?”

“Jeongin did,” Minho says, to the surprise of both Chaeryeong and Jeongin, who snaps out of his confusion with a startled, “What?”

“You didn’t look surprised to see us. I normally might not’ve noticed, but since I’d already seen you look surprised to see Jeongin, it was clear you were expecting J.One and I to show up. Adding that to how empty this street is, I couldn’t help but be suspicious. What happened with the waitress only confirmed my suspicions,” Minho explains. “You’ve been waiting here for us, haven’t you? Avoiding your friends, knowing Yeji would go to her cousin for help, and then banking on the fact TMT would come get 3RACHA involved if he thought it had to do with Wonderland, and then assuming we’d go to DayDream, where Minji would be able to guess where you’d gone. You’ve gone to quite the trouble to get me and J.One here.”

The small smile doesn’t move from Chaeryeong’s face as she keeps her eyes locked on Minho. Quietly, she says, “So you’ve heard about Wonderland.”

“The public hasn’t, but according to our investigations, it’s quite the hot topic amongst villains nowadays,” Minho says. “The fact that you know about them too suggests…”

Everyone’s eyes are on Chaeryeong, waiting with abated breaths as she takes her time to sip on her coffee. Finally, she sets her cup back down and says, “You think I’m part of Wonderland.”

No one speaks. The silence must’ve been funny to Chaeryeong, because soon she breaks into a smile. With a light-hearted giggle, she sits up straight in her seat and stares right back at Minho. “You’re sharper than I thought.”

Jisung and Minho leap to their feet, but Jeongin’s the one who shouts, “Wait!”

“What?” Jisung snaps, glaring at Jeongin. “If you’re about to try and defend her—”

“Don’t be an idiot, J.One,” Jeongin says, and Jisung has to force down the urge to snap back at Jeongin for the disrespect. Jeongin faces Chaeryeong as he says, “I might not remember you that well from school, but your quirk’s not something I’d forget that easily. What do you want, Chaeryeong?”

“Are you seriously just going to give into her demands?”

“The waitress was under Chaeryeong’s control, remember? Her quirk lets her control her own blood, and she can use it to control people too. If she’s really a villain now…” Jeongin’s eyes remain on Chaeryeong, whose smile grows as Jeongin completes, “I don’t suppose you care if you hurt people or not.”

It dawns on Jisung that Chaeryeong must have the entire street under her control. It explains the lack of people going about, and also Jeongin’s reaction: she has dozens of hostages at her fingertips, and one wrong move could easily make this much more deadly than a simply afternoon chat. 

Jisung glares at Chaeryeong and sits back down. Minho follows suit, though he seems much calmer than earlier. He says, “So you prepared hostages before leading us on a wild goose chase to find you. What do you want then? You must’ve been dying to talk to me and J.One.”

“I did want to talk to you two, though not quite to the degree of eagerness that you’re suggesting,” Chaeryeong replies. “The media’s been having fun hyping you two up, and on the villain side of things, everyone’s in such a frenzy about wanting to defeat you, but we needed to see for ourselves if you two lived up to the hype. Is Lee Know really a hero worthy of protecting a flimsy peace left by Levanter’s capture? And is J.One actually strong enough to have defeated him? I’m conducting a small test, that’s all.”

“Test? You’re trying to test us?” Jisung demands, scowling across the table at Chaeryeong. “Don’t act so pretentious. If this really was just a test to lure us out, then we’re clearly idiots for thinking Wonderland was even a threat. You’re just a petty villain who took advantage of the kindness of your friends to hurt others. There’s nothing to respect about that.”

Jisung’s frown deepens when he catches sight of the fleeting vulnerability that flashes across Chaeryeong’s face. Jeongin seems to have noticed too, because he cuts in, “Chaeryeong, I’ll be honest and say you don’t strike me as someone who would become a villain. You clearly do care about your friends; you didn’t want to contact your friends because you thought distancing yourself now would make them hurt less once they inevitably learned you were a part of a villain organization, right? It’s not going to help, Chaeryeong. I know how tempting it is to think distance makes breaking things off with people easier, but I also know that if you really do care of each other, both sides just end up getting hurt.”

Jeongin pauses, his eyes shifting to stare at his muddled reflection against the glass table. Finally, he turns back to Chaeryeong and says, “Why did you become a villain, Chaeryeong? Why are you going so far as to hurt your friends?”

His gentle words bring back the vulnerability on Chaeryeong’s face. His constant smiles and youthful appearance make it easy to forget the emotional maturity Jeongin possesses, but Jeongin’s words even make Jisung’s own anger dampen slightly. As much as he dislikes those who would choose villainy on their own free will, moments like these can’t help but remind Jisung that villains are people too. He glances over at Minho, who’s still watching Chaeryeong carefully. He’d given Minho a chance so easily, so maybe they could get through to Chaeryeong too, before anything drastic had to happen? She was still so young…

“You asked me earlier why I dropped out of the hero course, right?” Chaeryeong’s voice breaks through Jisung’s thoughts, cutting crisply through the silent chill around them. Jisung meets her eyes and nods.

“It’s simple, really,” Chaeryeong says, placing her hands neatly on her lap. “I just couldn’t be a hero anymore. Not after I watched Levanter defeat RM, the leader of BTS and the most powerful villain known in recent history.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Jisung sees Minho’s hands clench into fists, and Jeongin’s mouth fall wide open. Jisung however, only frowns, overwhelmed with confusion. RM? BTS? What was that? A villain group? He recalls hearing that Levanter had become popular for defeating a villain before his fall, but only now does he realize he’s never actually heard anyone talk about who that villain was. He pulls himself together and snaps, “That doesn’t make sense. You stopped wanting to become a hero because you saw an amazing hero defeat a powerful villain?”

“That’s the thing,” Chaeryeong says. “An amazing hero who defeated a powerful villain. That’s all Levanter was to the people from then on, but you know what I saw? As the whole country cheered for him, blinded by his victory as he stood there above the villain’s unconscious body in triumph, Levanter looked like he was about to cry, like his heart had just been shattered to pieces.”

Jisung’s blood is pounding in his ears. He stares up in shock at Chaeryeong, whose face twists with sorrow.

“Do you see what I mean now? I couldn’t be a hero after that,” Chaeryeong whispers. “After all, just what kind of hero system must this be, if defeating a villain can cause such a great hero so much despair? It made me realize that the title hero is just a shackle, forcing you to do the good thing, the right thing for the public even if you’re against it. I like helping people, but even more than that, I love the person that I am, and I wasn’t about to become a hero if it meant that I’d have to live for the sake of being a hero than for the sake of myself.”

Jeongin’s the one who surprisingly breaks the silence with a chuckle. His smile is still friendly when he looks up at Chaeryeong and says, “You’re really honest with yourself.”

“Honest?” Chaeryeong echoes, staring blankly back.

“More like selfish,” Jisung mutters, which only makes Jeongin laugh more.

“True, I guess it’s a little selfish too,” Jeongin says. “But it’s not like everyone is fit to be a hero. You realized it wasn’t a path for you, so you left to follow your heart. I can respect that. If you’d stayed at JYP High, I wonder if we could’ve been friends.”

His words make Chaeryeong smile, though her gaze shifts downwards. “You say that despite knowing I’ve joined Wonderland and its cause. Are you going to try to convince me I’m wrong?”

To everyone’s surprise, Jeongin shakes his head. “It’s not my place, even as a hero, to tell you how to live your life. I don’t know why Levanter might’ve looked upset to you that day, but you’re right. As a hero, one day I’ll probably be faced with a situation where I’ll have to take down someone I once believed. Just like now. I still think you’re a good person, Chaeryeong, but what’s different between you and me is that saving people and being a hero is just as much a part of myself as who I am as an individual. That’s why if you have any intentions of hurting people, no matter what my opinion is of you, Chaeryeong, I’ll take you down without any reservations. That’s who I am, and that’s the hero I want to be.”

Chaeryeong stares pensively at Jeongin for a long time before she lets out a long sigh. Leaning back in her seat, she doesn’t shift her gaze from Jeongin and says, “Really, I.N., you’ve always seemed like a nice person, but I see now you’re a good hero too.”

“Uh, thanks?” Jeongin says, his eyebrows scrunching up slightly in confusion. “But there’s still so many heroes better than—”

“No, you’re quite special,” Chaeryeong laughs cheerlessly. “Even Young K likes you.”

Jeongin stares blankly back. “Who?”

Minho and Jisung share a look and grow tenser in their seats. For Chaeryeong to namedrop Young K here, then the villain Sweet Chaos just might be…

“Anyways, that’s why I was hoping you wouldn’t get involved, I.N. We’re villains but we have our own morals, and we didn’t want to trouble you,” Chaeryeong replies, tapping the table idly. “But I can see now that you’ll be fine, so now that it’s come to this…”

She leans over and picks up a glass shard from Jisung’s broken cup. Before anyone can react, she stabs the glass into her hand and blood flies out, shooting straight towards Jeongin and splattering on his hand.

Minho and Jisung leap to their feet, but they freeze at the sight of Chaeryeong’s unwavering smile as her blood vanishes into Jeongin’s skin. Jisung suddenly realizes Jeongin hasn’t moved either, despite normally having the fastest reaction time. His hands are clenched into fists, and he’s slightly doubled over in his seat, his eyes fixed on Chaeryeong and his signature smile gone from his face. He hisses, “Chaeryeong, stop this, you shouldn’t be—”

“I’m sorry, I.N., but consider yourself unlucky for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Chaeryeong says, and Jeongin’s eyes immediately glaze over. He goes quiet, sitting like an unseeing doll in his seat.

“What are you planning to do?” Minho demands. 

“I said I was going to test the two of you, right?” Chaeryeong says, getting up on her feet. Her hand is still bleeding, but with a wave of her hand, the blood rises up into the air, forming swirling tendrils hovering around her. Jeongin’s body also stands up sharply, his eyes still blank and his head hanging downwards. “I.N. wasn’t part of the plan, but he’s a good fighter. It’d be a shame if I couldn’t take advantage of him to test your skills.”

Jeongin grabs his chair and launches it at Minho, who leaps backward out of the way. Jisung dives forward towards Jeongin instead, grabbing his wrists and swinging his body around just in time as Chaeryeong’s blood shoots towards him, hitting Jeongin’s back with a splat.

“Not bad, J.One,” Chaeryeong laughs, making a pulling motion with her hands as she draws her blood back. “I see you’re not afraid of using your allies as shields.”

“As if it wasn’t your fault!” Jisung hisses as he grips Jeongin harder. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Minho make a gentle sweeping motion with his arms and thrust them towards Chaeryeong. A torrent of water slams into her, and she flies towards the other side of the street, Minho giving chase after him. 

With Chaeryeong out of range, Jisung activates his quirk and feels his mind digging deep into Jeongin’s veins. If Chaeryeong was controlling him through his blood, then surely there was something Jisung could do to wrestle Jeongin out of her control.

Jeongin swings his head forward and hits Jisung in the head. Jisung bites back the pain, his eyes scrunching together, but he doesn’t let go. He can hear wind rising around them and trusts Minho to keep Chaeryeong at bay, searching for traces of Chaeryeong’s blood in Jeongin’s body. There had to be something different, something foreign he could distinguish.

Suddenly, Jeongin’s wrists shrink in his grip. Jisung opens his eyes just in time to see Jeongin’s hands transform into paws before Jeongin draws one arm back, swinging towards Jisung as it transforms back into a fist.

Jisung ducks. He swiftly leaps over the table and shoves it against Jeongin. He winces at the sight of Jeongin stumbling from the force, but he tackles Jeongin again while cushioning his head from hitting the ground. 

“Just hang in there,” Jisung mutters, pushing his entire weight onto Jeongin as he presses his hands against Jeongin’s face this time, searching near his brain. Finally, in the mental map of Jeongin’s body, he finds the irregularity. Unlike the rest of Jeongin’s body, he catches glimpses of type B blood cells racing in his veins. The fact that Jeongin’s body didn’t appear to be rejecting them could only mean one thing…

Just as Jisung began to see if he could take over Chaeryeong’s blood cells, he feels her blood slip out of his grasp. He chases after it, but suddenly, her blood slips through Jeongin’s veins as if passing through air, surging back towards the surface of Jeongin’s skin.

Jisung curses as he releases Jeongin from his grip, his eyes flying wide open. He’s a second too late. Jeongin’s body hurls forward, his face growing a fox’s snout as he bites down hard on Jisung’s shoulder. The pain prevents Jisung from reacting as he pushes Jeongin back, and he can only grit his teeth with dread as Chaeryeong’s blood shoots out from Jeongin’s skin and strikes him in the chest like a bullet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Villain Notes**  
>  Name: Lee Chaeryeong  
> Villain Name: N/A  
> Villain Organization: Wonderland  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: Blood Manipulation  
> Description: She can manipulate her own blood any way she wants when it leaves her body. She mainly shapes her blood into the shape of whiplike tendrils that can lash out at her opponents. Additionally, if her blood touches a person’s skin, she’s able to control them as if they were brainwashed.


	15. So Close, Yet So Far

Jisung cries out in pain as he falls back against the pavement, clutching his chest as his vision momentarily goes black. With Chaeryeong’s blood now in Jisung’s body, he catches sight of Jeongin’s body going slack like a puppet cut from its strings, and with the last of his strength, he surges forward, cushioning Jeongin’s fall with his own body. 

There’s a whirring wind rising around them, lingering effects of Minho’s quirk as he continues to fight Chaeryeong from somewhere Jisung can’t see. As he lays on the pavement, the pressure of Jeongin’s weight on top of his chest pushing down on him, his blood pounding in his ears, to say Jisung was scared is an understatement. His quirk has always in a sense allowed him to control others. Even more than that, his quirk requires him to exert extraordinary control over himself due to the destruction he can cause to people’s bodies if he isn’t careful. The idea that he might lose control of himself, that someone else will be able to control his every move is a terrifying thought. 

He stares up at the brilliantly blue sky, blinking slowly as his heart pounds in his chest. He wonders if he’ll lose consciousness soon, or perhaps he’ll become a prisoner in his own mind, an observer of his own body?

However, as the wind continues to whirl around him, and Jeongin’s body weighs more heavily down on him, Jisung finally sits up. He looks around, clenches and unclenches his hands and stands up, gently setting Jeongin aside on the ground. Minho and Chaeryeong are still fighting, but he sees Chaeryeong cast him a glance, her eyes narrowed in frustration, and immediately a wave of relief washes over him. 

Pointing haughtily at Chaeryeong, he shouts, “Hah, take that! That’s what you get for trying to challenge us!”

“J.One, what are you doing?” Minho shouts as Jisung starts charging towards them. 

Jisung ducks and dodges as Chaeryeong starts shooting bullets of her blood at him. He shouts back, “I’m immune to her control for some reason, so just get back and watch out for her blood! I’m the one who’ll be in trouble if I have to end up fighting you too!”

He skids to a halt in front of Chaeryeong and spins around, aiming a roundhouse kick at Chaeryeong, who puts up her arms and blocks it at the last moment by grabbing Jisung’s leg and swinging him to the side. He stumbles to find his balance again just as Chaeryeong hits him in a face with a well-aimed punch.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Chaeryeong taunts, swirling her hand in the air, a long thin strand of blood coming out of her hand, sharpened like the point of a needle. Jisung dodges the side at the last second as Chaeryeong’s needle-like whip of blood grazes the top of his ear. He rushes at Chaeryeong again, pushing her with all his might back towards the middle of the street.

“Lee Know, send her flying!” Jisung shouts. He leaps back as wind fills the streets, roaring as it sweeps Chaeryeong right off her feet and traps her high up, about fifteen feet in the air between the buildings on each side of the street.

“Really, you gotta stop telling me what to do when it’s convenient for you,” Minho scoffs with a slight grin, spinning the wind around Chaeryeong to keep her afloat. 

“You did what I asked anyways,” Jisung teases as he walks over to Minho and looks up at Chaeryeong. He calls out to her, “We’ve caught you now. Any last words before we hand you over to the police?”

Chaeryeong struggles for a bit in the air before finally seeming to find a way to balance herself in the air. She twirls a few strands of her hair with her hand and casually says, “It’s a good thing I wore pants today. Don’t you think you’re being a little violent to a girl like me?”

“You’re the one who attacked us first,” Jisung retorts. “Besides, if you’re going to talk like that, you shouldn’t have even tried to become a villain.”

“But I decided to become one,” Chaeryeong replies, her voice growing in confidence. “You’re the one not treating me seriously as a villain.”

“We’re treating you seriously enough to have captured you—”

“Also, one more thing,” Chaeryeong cuts Jisung off. She shifts her posture midair slightly, so she looks more like she’s lying down in midair than sitting upright. Eyeing Jisung carefully, she says, “Heroes can’t kill the villains they’re fighting right? It’d be a shame if I happened to fall from this height and crack my head open due to your misjudgment.”

“What, Lee Know would never—” Jisung turns back to look at Minho and he pales. “Lee Know, behind you!”

Minho turns around. The waitress from earlier had come up to him without a sound, and all he sees is a blur of silver as she takes a wild swing and smacks him in the face with her serving tray. He stumbles, the pain enough to cut his focus, and Jisung’s heart drops when the winds around Chaeryeong vanish. She hangs suspended in midair for a split second before she rapidly begins to fall.

“When all this is over, I’m going to kill you for this!” Jisung yells, running as fast as he can and leaping into the air to catch Chaeryeong in his arms, which strain from the momentum of her falling weight.

“A hero’s shackles,” she just tauntingly says, not even giving Jisung a break as she pushes herself out of his arms and runs for the cafe, leaping over fallen chairs and tables. Jisung gives chase. If he could just touch Chaeryeong, knock her out for good…

Chaeryeong opens the wooden door of Twice Cafe, and Jisung skids to a halt when Chaeryeong only steps aside and a horde of people clamor out the door towards him. He nimbly leaps on top of a table to avoid getting crushed by the surge of people, but in his haste, he hadn’t noticed an employee run out of the restaurant next door, his hands gripping a chair. Before he can swing at Jisung with the chair, there’s a flash of white and gold as something small slams into the attacker’s side, knocking him over. 

“Jeongin, you’re okay!” Jisung shouts, leaping down and scooping the fox into his arms before swiftly running away from the crowded entrance, knocking furniture this way and that behind him. He sees Minho at a standstill, only dodging the waitress’s flimsy attacks without returning a blow. Jeongin wriggles out of Jisung’s arms and leaps towards the pair, knocking the serving tray right out of the waitress’s hands before pushing off it to slam into the waitress’s chest. He morphs back into himself right on top of her, though his skin is still covered in patches of fur and his fox ears only shrink slightly. He shouts at Minho, “This isn’t the time to be polite!”

“I wasn’t!” Minho protests, though he lets out a shaky breath as he steps away from the waitress.  The side of his head is bruised slightly from where the serving tray had hit him, and his hands are shaking slightly. 

Jisung recognizes the look in Minho’s eyes. They’re the same as when he first met Minho, that wavering look of apprehension and fear that’d looked around at the crowd of people during their fight. He knows now where that fear had been coming from, knows that Minho had spent four years scared of the fact that he’d been turned into a ticking time bomb, and it suddenly makes sense why Minho hadn’t been able to bring himself to use his quirk against a civilian, even if it was a civilian attacking him under the control of a villain.

The last time his quirk had been used against a civilian, most of them had ended up dead.

“We have a bigger problem,” Jisung quickly changes the subject. “It’d be nice if we could just knock these people out and call it a day,but seems the only way we can stop these civilians from attacking us is if we take out Chaeryeong herself.”

“Well Lee Know’s the only one with wide range powers,” Jeongin says. “Let’s just have him deal with the people and you and I can take down Chaeryeong.”

Jisung is well aware that’s the best plan, but one look at Minho tells him it’s not an option, as much as Minho might insist otherwise. He shakes his head. “We’re just going to have to push through them to get to her. It’s not like she’s going to run away.”

Jeongin frowns, and Minho starts to say, “It’s fine, I can—”

“We’re fighting to get through to her,” Jisung says firmly, his eyes narrowed into a determined stare when he turns to look at Minho, whose mouth is set into a thin frown.

Suddenly, Jisung sees Chaeryeong stretch her injured hand towards them and immediately leaps at Minho. A loud crack echoes through the air as a bullet of blood pierces Jisung’s shoulder, right where Minho had been standing. Jisung bites down hard on his lip in pain as Jeongin shouts, “Jisung, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Jisung gasps, clutching his shoulder. “I’m immune somehow, so you don’t have to worry about me falling under her control.”

“That’s not the problem right now!” Minho hisses, grabbing Jisung’s arm for a closer look. “What’d you protect me for?”

“Well, if you’d gotten hit, then we’d have to deal with fighting you too, right?” Jisung dryly laughs. “Then we’d have lost for sure.”

Maybe it’s because he’s in so much pain, but Jisung doesn’t know what to make of the look in Minho’s eyes. There’s anger, but there’s also something soft about it. Minho reaches to pull Jisung closer, but he suddenly whips his head around and shouts, “Jeongin, get out of the way!”

They turn just as the crowd of people breaks from the obstacles of tables and chairs and comes sprinting towards them. Chaeryeong aims her hand towards them again. Just as another deafening crack fills the air and the crowd nears them, there’s a whoosh of wind as a wall of green suddenly surges out in front of the heroes and blocks the attack.

The tangle of hundreds of vines retreat, and Hyunjin shouts out, “Jeongin, are you okay?”

Jeongin visibly stiffens, but he still can’t seem to stop a smile from appearing on his face as he turns in the direction of Hyunjin’s voice. 

Hyunjin is racing over towards them, the last of his vines vanishing back into his pockets. Behind him, Changbin’s dark figure strides slowly towards them, oozing an edgy, confident aura. He’s eyeing the crowd of people who’ve turned their eyes on him, and his voice booms out in the street. 

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but if you think you can hurt my juniors at work, you’re going to have to deal with me first.”

“They’re still civilians! They’re all just under the villain’s control!” Jisung shouts at Changbin before he can attack, if only to make sure Changbin doesn’t horribly injure everyone. Changbin pauses before shaking his head, finally breaking into a run to catch up to Hyunjin, grumbling, “Fine, I’ll do this the hard way. TMT, go make sure Jeongin and the others are okay.”

Changbin grabs his cloak and lets it billow out behind him, extending his own shadow as a slight wind shoots out from his hero suit to keep his cloak rippling in the air. He steps forward confidently towards the crowd, and his shadow surges forward, immediately wrapping around one person and throwing them into another. As the pile of bodies begins to grow, Hyunjin reaches them and grabs Jeongin first, demanding, “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“I’m fine,” Jeongin says, immediately trying to push away Hyunjin’s clingy concern as he fakes a disgusted look. 

“Yeah, Hyunjin, thanks so much for being concerned about all of us,” Jisung sarcastically mutters, though he smiles when Jeongin eventually gives up trying to push Hyunjin away and settles into Hyunjin’s protective hug.

Hyunjin looks up and immediately pulls out some kind of ointment from his pockets when he sees the bloodied rip in Jisung’s sleeve. Hastily rubbing it over Jisung’s wound, he asks, “Just what’s going on? We came here cause you said you’d found Chaeryeong, so why are you getting attacked?”

“It was a trap,” Minho calmly replies, though his eyes are trained on Jisung’s wound, and he lets a sigh of relief when it stops bleeding. “Turns out Chaeryeong’s part of Wonderland.”

Hyunjin’s eyes fly wide open. He says numbly, “But she’s Yeji’s friend.”

“And still a villain,” Jisung says, shaking out his arm now that the pain had subsided. “Come on, we need you to help us take out the people she’s controlling. You can question her later.”

“Right,” Hyunjin mutters, getting back onto his feet. Changbin’s completely entangled in his fight, grabbing people left and right with his shadows and holding down a growing pile of tied up civilians behind him, covered by a thick blanket of darkness extending from the shadow of his cloak. Hyunjin is about to move to go help him when Jisung suddenly pushes Jeongin towards Hyunjin as well. He says, “Jeongin, you go help Hyunjin. It’ll be bad if Chaeryeong takes control of you if you get too close again.”

“But Lee Know—!”

“Is coming with me,” Jisung sternly finishes. “Chaeryeong’s trying to pick a fight with the two of us anyways, so we’ll deal with her. Get everyone else under control, okay?”

Hyunjin and Jeongin share a glance before they both nod. Jisung’s aware they’ve got some personal tension between them at the moment, but he’s glad they can at least be professional enough to focus on their work first. They take off immediately, and Hyunjin makes vines grow from his pockets again. They shoot out in Chaeryeong’s direction, weaving in between people before expanding out into walls, pushing people back and creating a clear path for Jisung and Minho, who race forwards, straight towards Chaeryeong.

“This turned into quite the party,” Chaeryeong laughs as she lifts her hand in the air. Droplets of blood hang around here, suspended midair as Chaeryeong meets Jisung and Minho’s eyes.

She swipes her hand down towards them. Minho immediately jumps slightly in the air. He lands gracefully as his hands dip down in front of him in a sweeping motion, and with it, he draws out a rising wave and pushes it towards Chaeryeong, absorbing her blood and pushing her back. 

“Give it up, Chaeryeong! You can’t win against all of us,” Jisung says as he steps through an opening in the wave that Minho’s made for him. She looks frustrated for the first time as she gathers up a pool of blood around her hand. They coat her fist like a glove and form into spikes around her skin, and she takes a hard swing at Jisung, scraping his skin. Jisung parries the punch, slamming Chaeryeong’s arm to the side and knocking her off balance. He takes advantage of the opening and aims a hard hit right into her midriff, knocking the air out of her as she slams backwards against the wall. 

“You’d be a better fighter if you’d stayed in the hero course. Their curriculum isn’t just for show you know,” Jisung says, squatting down in front of Chaeryeong and heftily pulling her back up onto her feet. 

From just a touch, Jisung’s quirk tells him that Chaeryeong’s quickly losing strength, likely from from the amount of blood she must have lost by using her quirk. At the very least, she’s stopped struggling, leaning slightly on Jisung for support as she says, “Well, you’ve certainly passed the test in terms of strength.”

Jisung rolls his eyes at how lightly she’s taking the situation. He says, “Take this more seriously. You realize you’re going to suffer from real life consequences because of this?”

“Will I?” is all Chaeryeong says before she finally passes out in Jisung’s arms. Minho lets down his wall of water, and Jisung can see that the people Chaeryeong had been controlling are now collapsing to the ground, free from her control, many having already been knocked down or tied up by Jeongin, Hyunjin, and Changbin. There’s a twinkling light from the rooftops across the street, but when Jisung blinks, it vanishes. Minho approaches and helps support Chaeryeong’s unconscious body with Jisung as they wordlessly carry her forward. They step out from underneath the small shade in front of the cafe door, and Jisung calls out, “Hey, can you guys call the police?”

“Already on it!” Changbin replies, turning away to speak into his phone, already walking down the street to wait for the police to arrive. Hyunjin and Jeongin look like they’re catching their breaths as they lean on each other for support, Jeongin’s eyes half closed from exhaustion, and Hyunjin looking down affectionately at him.

“Well, this took a while, but we’ve finally caught someone related to Wonderland,” Jisung sighs, scratching the back of his neck. Somehow, he feels like the temperature’s risen, like the afternoon warmth is hitting him all at once.

Minho looks down at Chaeryeong’s unconscious figure and says, “Still, I didn’t expect one of their members to be so young. It seems like she’s still a little inexperienced with utilizing her quirk, but it still feels like she was just toying with us. Makes me wonder just who the other members of Wonderland are.”

Suddenly, the heat behind Jisung becomes unbearable. He whirls around with Minho, who also seems to have started to sweat. They’re momentarily blinded by the incredible light that’d somehow been behind them, as a voice rings out clearly, “I can’t believe I have to play babysitter.”

When the light clears, Jisung snaps open his eyes. There’s a man in a suit and tie, who has a hand on each of their shoulders. Beneath his parted black bangs, there’s a muddled shimmer of light hiding his eyes from sight, almost like it’s a mask. His voice has a hint of a teasing tone that echoes powerfully in Jisung’s ears. He says, “Sorry, heroes, but I’m going to need you to let our maknae go.”

The part of Jisung’s jacket where the man had pressed his hand down starts to burn. As much as Jisung doesn’t want to let go of Chaeryeong, in that moment, Jisung has the dreadful feeling that if he doesn’t get away from this man now, he’ll get burned to a crisp. 

Jisung forcefully shoves the man’s hand off his shoulder. The fabric of his clothes is smoking, but he immediately realizes Minho’s still holding onto Chaeryeong and defiantly staring back at the sudden attacker. He says, “Sorry, but my quirk happens to allow me to withstand a certain level of heat too. I think you need to cool down a bit, villain.”

Minho shoots a jet of water at the man, but the man doesn’t budge, looking like it hadn’t affected him at all. There’s a slight tone of amusement in his voice as he replies, “Right, you’ve got some stupidly powerful quirk that lets you use different elements, but if you thought you could put my heat out with water, guess again, Lee Know. Water may beat fire, but you can’t fight against the light.”

“Lee Know, get away!” Jisung shouts just as the man’s hand begins to glow with pure light. 

Minho’s a second too late. He stumbles backwards with a cry of pain. His part of his cloak over his shoulder is literally melting on his skin, which has been burnt an ugly purple color. The man grabs Chaeryeong’s body as Jisung rushes to Minho and looks up at the masked man. Jisung’s angry and frustrated, angry that Minho’s hurt, frustrated that Chaeryeong is slipping out of their grasp, but at the same time, he’s well aware of the fear pulsating through his body. 

All of his instincts are telling him this man is powerful. That he’s dangerous.

“Who are you?” Jisung manages to force out.

The man hoists Chaeryeong up into his arms. He glances back at Jisung and Minho briefly, a cheerful smile stretching across his lips. “You can call me Sunshine. Tell Chan I send him my regards.”

The man suddenly starts to glow again, and Jisung shuts his eyes, the light pressing against his eyelids. By the time he’s opened them again, the man has vanished with Chaeryeong, leaving behind only a slightly charred and smoking mark where he once stood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Villain Notes Addendum**  
>  Name: Lee Chaeryeong  
> Quirk Limits: Using too much blood will weaken her body. She also can’t control people who have the same blood cell type in their blood as her own.


	16. A Confession

“Well, at the very least, I’m glad none of you were too badly hurt,” Chan says, standing up from behind his desk with a sigh. Jisung just hangs his head, feeling heavier at the sound of Chan’s disappointment.

The five heroes had returned to 3RACHA after a tense interaction with the police. No one but Jisung and Minho had seen the man who’d called himself Sunshine, and nothing about the situation was looking good for them. They’d failed to apprehend a villain barely out of high school, and they’d let a second villain run away with the culprit in tow. The policeman handling the situation had at least the decency to make sure all the civilians were treated and sent to the hospital, but Jisung knows he can expect the media to have a field day blowing their failure out of proportion tomorrow.

Seeing Jisung’s expression, Chan comes over to give him a comforting pat on the back, before he turns to the others and says, “I’m glad you three were there to help, and Jeongin, I’m sorry this had to happen to you on your day off.”

“It’s fine,” Jeongin says brightly, despite looking a little pale, likely a side effect from being controlled by Chaeryeong’s blood. “I’m just glad no one ended up really hurt. I do wish I could’ve been able to say something to Chaeryeong to make her reconsider her actions though…”

Hyunjin also looks grim. “I can’t believe she’d choose to become a villain. I’ve met her afew times, and she’s always seemed like a nice person, and Yeji really thinks of her as a good friend. It’s going to be hard breaking the truth to my cousin…”

“That’s the one thing most heroes have to face,” Chan says somberly. “No matter how we might want to inspire people to lead better lives, in the end, we can’t tell people what to do with their own lives. It’s up to each individual how they choose to live their lives.”

Jeongin and Hyunjin both look more grim at Chan’s words. Chan is about to add onto what he just said, but Changbin’s the one who breaks the silence first.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t keep trying,” Changbin says, slapping Jeongin and Hyunjin on the back and forcing them to stand up straight. “Rather than wallow in your own sadness, you might as well use that energy to try to convince this friend of yours that she’s on the wrong path. She’s still young so it’s certainly not too late for her to change her mind about being a villain.”

His words bring a smile back onto Hyunjin’s face. “You’re right, Changbin, it’s too early to give up now. I’m glad you’re always here to encourage me.”

Caught up in their own world, they don’t seem to notice Jeongin behind them. He suddenly looks a lot paler, and Jisung can’t tell if it’s his condition worsening, or if it has something to do with the dark look in his eyes as Jeongin stares at Hyunjin and Changbin smiling at each other.

Chan seems to have noticed too, as he suddenly says, “Changbin, can you take Jeongin to the infirmary? We should check that you’re really okay, and you should have a snack to recover some of your energy, Jeongin. Meanwhile, Jisung and Minho, I’d like you to tell me more about what happened.”

The smile returns to Jeongin’s face when Changbin and Hyunjin turn their attention back towards him. The three of them head out the room, Hyunjin and Changbin slightly teasing Jeongin as they go. When the door closes, Chan lets out a long sigh.

“I really hope they sort out their feelings soon,” he mutters while shaking his head. He sits back down behind his desk and turns to Minho and Jisung. “So, you said the second villain called himself Sunshine? Can you describe his quirk?”

Jisung replies, “At first I thought his quirk might have something to do with fire, but Minho’s attack of water did nothing, and given the way he glowed, I think his quirk has something to do with manipulating light.”

“Light? Did it seems like he was manipulating the light around him, or was he generating it?”

Jisung frowns. He catches sight of Minho’s burnt shoulder. He’d tried healing it, but there was still a mottled scar that peeked through his burnt clothes, a grim reminder of the villain they’d just faced. 

Minho catches Jisung look at his wound and tugs his cloak a bit to hide it. He says, “Don’t feel guilty about not being able to heal it. I’m the one who was dumb enough to underestimate who we were facing.” 

It doesn’t make Jisung feel much better, but it helps to see that Minho isn’t too bothered by it. Meanwhile, Minho answers Chan, “I think he was generating the light. Or rather, it was like he could turn parts of his body into light itself.”

Chan hums a little to himself as he thinks. His eyes wander towards the calendar hanging on the wall. For some reason, he starts to look a little sad when he sees the date, but all at once, his expression morphs into something grave and serious. He mutters to himself, “No, that can't be true.”

“What can’t be?” Jisung asks. 

Chan just shakes his head. “Nothing. Were you able to learn anything more about what their goals were?”

Minho’s face turns grim. Jisung recalls their conversation with Chaeryeong and says, “I don’t know about Wonderland’s goals, but at the very least, Chaeryeong seems to think heroes are just people who sacrifice their ideals to save others.”

Chan scoffs at that. “I mean, she’s not wrong. That’s certainly true sometimes, but everyone has to sacrifice what they believe in throughout their lives, hero or not.”

“Well, she seemed to think that because…” Jisung stops. 

He glances at Minho, who up until then had been staring at the floor. He doesn’t know if it’s his place to tell Chan what they’d heard from Chaeryeong. 

Minho finally glances up and meets Jisung’s eyes. He lets out a long sigh. “She saw me defeat RM, or rather, she saw that defeating him had upset me. It probably made her think I was a hero who sympathized with BTS’s goals, so in her mind, I had probably only just proved that BTS was right all along: that there isn’t a need for an organized system of heroes.”

Chan’s expression darkens. He’s staring at Minho with an extremely piercing and calculative look as he asks, “And? Is she right in thinking you sympathized with BTS?”

It’s incredibly unlike Chan to say such a thing. As far as Jisung knows, Chan’s always been a person to believe in his friends and in the good of others. It’s probably why he’d given Minho a second chance in the first place, but now, it’s almost like he’s accusing Minho, based on the words of a teenage villain that he’s never even met.

Minho’s smile is undecipherable. He says, “Chan, you know no hero would support BTS, especially after what they did in the years leading up to their disbandment.”

The dark haze falls away from Chan’s eyes. He sits back in his seat again, like his energy has been sapped from him. “You’re right. Sorry, Minho, I didn’t mean to get so agitated like that.”

“I know,” Minho replies, his eyes also glancing towards the calendar. “It’s that time of year after all…”

The room falls silent, heavy with a sadness that Jisung doesn’t understand. He glances back and forth between Chan and Minho. He doesn’t want to pry, but at the same time, there’s something he needs to know.

“I don’t mean to interrupt this sad moment you guys are having together,” Jisung starts, and Chan and Minho turn to him questioningly, "but what in the world is a BTS?”

Minho’s eyes widen as his eyebrows arch up so high that he’s got wrinkles on his forehead. He splutters out, “What do you mean, what’s BTS? Everyone knows—!”

“Ah, that’s right, you didn’t come to Korea until after Minho’s quirk went out of control,” Chan says. “It’s not surprising they wouldn’t have taught you about BTS in school. The government basically forbids anyone from talking about them after all.”

“Okay… so who are they?” Jisung asks again, raising an eyebrow. Minho looks like he’s at a loss for words, while Chan looks thoughtfully at the calendar. 

Suddenly, Chan says, “Jisung, tomorrow, come with me. I want you to meet a friend of mine.”

“Uh, okay?” Jisung mutters, while Minho’s expression softens as he says, “Chan, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’ll be the easier way to tell him about BTS and what they’ve done,” Chan replies. He tells Jisung, “I know this is probably confusing to you right now, but if it’s true that at least someone in Wonderland is being motivated by the ideals of BTS, it’s important that you know the fear and influence they had.” 

Jisung nods. He has a feeling that’s all Chan is going to tell him for now, especially once Chan’s attention turns back to Minho, whose face has gone back to an unreadable expression. Jisung takes it upon himself to say, “Well, if that’s all you need for now, I’m going to go check on Jeongin and make sure he’s okay. Let’s go, Minho.”

“Wait, Jisung—” Chan starts to say, but Jisung hastily leaves the room dragging Minho along and closes the door soundly behind them. He feels bad for just leaving Chan like that, but he can tell that Chan was about to ask Minho about his extremely tense reaction surrounding the topic of BTS. He decides it’s worth running off with Minho in tow when he sees Minho visibly let out a sigh of relief.

“Come on, let’s hurry before Chan realizes he can chase after us,” Jisung says, hastening his footsteps towards the staircase down the hall.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay ignoring Chan like that?” Minho asks, as they head downstairs towards the infirmary. 

“He’ll be fine,” Jisung says lightly. “He might be the best hero around, but it’s our job to make sure he doesn’t get used to having so much power.”

Minho laughs. “I don’t think that’s what your job is, Jisung.”

“Shh,” Jisung snickers, putting a finger to his lips. “I’m the baby of this hero agency. It means I get to do whatever I want.”

Just as they’re about to reach the infirmary, they see Changbin walk out. He sees them and waves. “Perfect timing. Jisung, can you go in and check up on Jeongin? It didn’t look like anything was wrong, but he’s still looking a little pale, so I think it’d be best if you could double check. They’re out on the balcony right now, getting some fresh air.”

“Sure. Where are you going though?” Jisung asks, noting that Changbin’s got his wallet in one hand and a bucket hat in another.

Changbin tosses the hat instead to Minho, who nimbly snatches it from the air. Changbin says, “I was going to get us some food. Jeongin said he never got a chance to eat lunch. Minho, do you want to come with me? I wanted to pay you back for getting us lunch, so you can choose what we’re eating.”

“Hey, why aren’t you asking me?” Jisung pouts. 

“You can pick if you ever pay for food,” Changbin dismissively scoffs, a twinkle in his eyes as Jisung sticks his tongue out at Changbin, both of them knowing fully well that Jisung probably wouldn’t ever treat Changbin to a meal. Changbin asks Minho again, “So, wanna come?”

“Well, if you’re paying I don’t see why not,” Minho laughs, putting on the hat. He grabs Changbin by the hand as if it were second nature to him, but he lets go quickly when he sees Changbin look away.

“Sorry, I forgot you’re still not comfortable with me doing that again,” Minho says, giving Changbin some space. 

“It’s fine,” Changbin mutters, and Jisung can tell he means it, given how hard Changbin’s trying to hide the flustered grin that’s spreading across his face. He’s happy that the two of them have returned to being on good terms with each other. However, as he watches them head out, he can’t help but feel like something is bothering him, at least until Minho turns back and gives him a tiny wave. Jisung waves back and shouts, “Buy me an ice americano!”

“Get one yourself!” Minho shouts back, and the two of them disappear down the stair well. Jisung rolls his eyes as he heads a little further down the hallway. 

The 3RACHA hero agency has many features, courtesy of being run by the Number One hero, so in addition to being a multi-leveled office building, it has its own infirmary, gym, and even a music producing room for the agency’s heroes to use. There’s also a small balcony that opens up to the back of the building, a place hidden from the public street, making it a good place to get some sunshine and relaxation without needing to worry about the eyes of the public. Jisung can see the outline of Jeongin and Hyunjin’s figures as he approaches, but just as he’s about to call out to them, he hears something that makes him stop in his tracks.

* * *

It’s been almost five minutes since Jeongin and Hyunjin had started standing on the balcony. Jeongin knows because he’s spent the last five minutes counting the ticking of the second hand on his watch, painfully loud in the silence that’s been built between them. It’s unbearable, but Jeongin’s made sure not to let it show on his face. He’s busy pretending to stare at the flower petals floating by in the wind with a faint smile on his face, enjoying how the faint sunlight is illuminating them and warming him up. He wonders if it’s a little mean to Hyunjin, who he knows is probably even more uncomfortable with the silence than he is, but when Jeongin thinks about how this might be the last time he might be able to worry Hyunjin as friends, he finds himself wishing he could drag this moment out longer.

Jeongin hadn’t been lying when he told Changbin he hadn’t eaten yet. He’s still feeling lightheaded from the fight they’d just been in, and he’s grateful Changbin’s always been someone looks out for others. Still, Jeongin would be lying if he said he hadn’t had ulterior motives to get Changbin out of the way. 

At six minutes, Jeongin finally gathers up his courage and turns to face Hyunjin. Jeongin smiles when he sees that Hyunjin isn’t bothering to hide the concern on his face, though Jeongin gets the sense that Hyunjin’s also relieved that Jeongin’s finally looking at him. 

“Jisung said you thought I was avoiding you,” Jeongin suddenly says. 

Hyunjin falters for a moment before he nods. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but did I do something to upset you?”

“It’s not your fault,” Jeongin shakes his head, and he wishes Hyunjin wouldn’t look at him with such kind, understanding eyes. “It’s something I had to sort out on my end.”

“Jeongin,” Hyunjin starts, “you know I’ll always be here to listen to any worries you might have, right?”

“I know. You’re a really good friend to me Hyunjin, but this was something I needed to figure out on my own, and I think I’m finally ready to tell you what’s been bothering me.”

Hyunjin nods, but just at that moment, his phone chimes, causing the both of them to jump slightly. Hyunjin glances at his phone and off-handedly comments, “Oh, it’s Changbin. He’s asking if you’re okay with fried chicken…”

He trails off, looking up before Jeongin can hide the ugly look of jealousy on his face. Jeongin rubs his face hastily, his eyes fixed on the ground as he replaces his expression with a forced smile, but it’s too late. 

Hyunjin stammers, “Jeongin, what’s wrong?”

Jeongin’s well-thought plan flies out the window. The words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them.

“I like you, Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin almost drops his phone, staring at Jeongin with his eyes open wide. “What?”

“I like you. I’ve liked you for a time, ever since I met you in high school,” Jeongin says again, his voice growing more confident, finally lifting his head and meeting Hyunjin’s eyes.

Hyunjin falters, opening and closing his mouth a few times before starting, “Jeongin, I—”

“Don’t!” Jeongin cuts him off, taking in a deep breath as he lowers his eyes again. “I don’t need to hear your answer, that’s not why I’m confessing to you right now. I… I know you like someone else, so I’m not expecting much anyways.”

“Then why…?”

“Because I don’t want to keep lying to myself,” Jeongin says. “When I met Chaeryeong today, what she said about being true to yourself, I know it might be stupid getting inspired by a villain’s words, but her words really hit a nerve. I’ve always thought of myself as an honest person, but she made me realize I’ve only been running away from my problem. This entire time, I told myself that it was okay, that I was fine because I know how happy you are when you spend time with the person you like. I’m like that too after all, so if I like you, then of course I’ll be happy as long as you’re happy… But—!”

Jeongin looks up, his eyes lined with tears even as he fights to maintain a smile on his face. In a shaking voice, he breathes out, “But now I realize I’m not okay. This doesn’t have to do with whether I like you or not, Hyunjin. The only times I see you nowadays are at work, and even then you’re always busy talking to either the person you like or to Minho, which I understand. They’re both people you treasure, but I… I’ve missed hanging out with you. That’s why I’m going to be honest to myself from now on. That’s why I’m confessing to you. Not just to say that I like you, but even more than that, I want to feel like we’re friends again.”

Jeongin can’t read the expression on Hyunjin’s face, but he doesn’t have to. Suddenly, Hyunjin rushes forward and squeezes Jeongin into a tight hug, burying his face into Jeongin’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Jeongin. I’m sorry that I made you feel like that. I’m sorry for being such a horrible friend.”

Jeongin laughs at the slight sniffling in Hyunjin’s voice, but he hugs Hyunjin tightly back. “What are you crying for? I’m the one who’s supposed to be feeling bad here.”

Hyunjin just hugs Jeongin a little tighter. The flowers petals in the air start swirling about the two of them, so close that they feel almost like a warm embrace.

It takes a few more moments for Hyunjin to realize he’s unconsciously using his quirk. He backs off with a quiet apology, and the flower petals go back to drifting aimlessly in the wind.

“Jeongin, what you said, it’s like you said, I’m sorry I can’t return your feelings, but are you really just okay with still being friends?”

Jeongin nods. “I wasn’t ever going to confess to you, but I wasn’t going to be able to move on and support your feelings if I didn’t. That’s why I’m okay if we can stay as friends. I’m happy just to have you in my life, Hyunjin.”

Tears well up in Hyunjin’s eyes again as he leaps at Jeongin for another hug. Jeongin’s prepared this time. He morphs into his fox form and skips out of the way. Hyunjin stumbles forward, catching himself from falling, before Jeongin nimbly leaps onto Hyunjin’s shoulders. He morphs back into his human form, clinging onto Hyunjin from behind, while burying his face in Hyunjin’s back, glad Hyunjin can’t see the relieved smile on his face. He laughs, “No more hugs from you, not until you’ve made it up by treating me to food!”

Whatever Hyunjin says next, Jisung doesn’t hear it. He’s busy walking away from the scene, feeling like if he hears anymore, he’d be hearing too much. He heads back to the infirmary and plops down on the cold tiled floor. 

He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but when he heard Jeongin suddenly blurt out his feelings to Hyunjin, Jisung’s brain had shut down completely and decided that the safest, quietest option was just to hide so as not to disturb the moment. As bad as Jisung feels for overhearing an extremely private moment between Jeongin and Hyunjin, he’s glad that he at least now knows what’s been bothering Jeongin. 

Jisung supposes he should’ve known that Jeongin liked Hyunjin. They’ve been friends longer than Jisung’s known the two of them, and Jeongin’s always been by Hyunjin’s side, no matter how much Jeongin likes to pretend to reject Hyunjin’s affections. He doesn’t know how Jeongin confessing might change their relationship, but he hopes for the happiness of his friends that they’ll work things out.

Still though, he hadn’t realized that Hyunjin also had someone he likes. If it were up to Jisung to guess, he’d say Seungmin, who’s been Hyunjin’s best friend since they were kids, but considering that Seungmin’s happily in love and Hyunjin’s repeatedly laughed at the idea of him and Seungmin dating whenever it’s brought up, Jisung doesn’t think that’s the case. Maybe Minho then? Hyunjin had burst into tears seeing him again after all. But Jeongin had clearly said “the person you like and Minho,” so they must be separate people. So then who…?

He thinks back on all the times he’s seen Jeongin look jealous, all the times he’s seen Jeongin’s face light up when he’s around Hyunjin. Who is the person who Hyunjin always looks for, the person who always lights up Hyunjin’s day?

The answer creeps up onto Jisung, and he’s annoyed at himself for not connecting the dots earlier, muttering into the empty hallway, “So that’s why he always comes to visit Changbin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Villain Notes**  
>  Name: ???  
> Villain Name: Sunshine  
> Villain Organization: Wonderland  
> Blood Type: ?  
> Quirk: Light Generation (?)  
> Description: He appears to be able to generate light from his body and manipulate it. He’s can attack others by generating intense heat from his body. Jisung didn’t see him escape because he started glowing, so there’s a chance he can turn his entire body into light, potentially extending it to people he’s touching.  
> Notes: I’ll know more if I get the chance to see him, but I can tell it’s a dangerous quirk. I’m glad Jisung and the others weren’t hurt but… Sunshine had the chance to hurt, maybe kill everyone there. Why didn’t he?


	17. BEWARE (Grr)

In order to avoid any people who might recognize Chan and stop them on their way, Chan asks Jisung to meet him in front of his apartment at six in the morning. Begrudgingly, Jisung finds himself making his way there before the sun has even risen, half-asleep as he walks the short trek from the subway station to Chan’s apartment. When he rings the doorbell, unsurprisingly, it’s a young woman with long reddish hair who answers with a smile that’s more energetic than Jisung can ever imagine being so early in the morning.

“Hey, Jisung,” Sana says, “Chan’s still getting ready, but feel free to come in. Do you want some coffee?”

“Yes please,” Jisung says, yawning loudly as he steps into the small apartment. As usual, the apartment is warm and cozy, and as he flops down onto the worn out couch in the living room, he faintly registers the sound of Sana busying herself in the kitchen.

Sana’s one of Chan’s closest friends. Jisung doesn’t know when Chan and Sana had started living together, just that they’ve shared this apartment since long before Jisung started working for Chan. In the beginning, he remembers the media taking interest, trying to make gossip about why Chan was sharing an apartment with another woman, but eventually they’d given up after Chan’s repeatedly deadpan answers that it was simply because they were good friends and the housing was cheap, and that even after Chan’s popularity had soared up, they’d gotten used to their small apartment and so neither had bothered to move out.

Jisung’s mind feels heavier at that thought, and he buries his face in the couch cushion that he’s resting his head on. Unlike the media, he knows the real reason neither Sana nor Chan have moved out, even though Chan earns more than enough to get his own place and Sana’s had the option of moving out with her girlfriend for years. It’s not just because they enjoy living with each other, or that they’ve gotten used to their warm, cozy apartment.

It’s because they both know that if Chan’s left to his own devices, his health is bound to crash and burn.

It’s something Jisung only learned after working at 3RACHA for almost a year, a secret he and Changbin share only with Sana, who’s the one reason Chan probably hasn’t worked himself to death. Chan isn’t always the bright, cheerful hero that he’s painted out to be. Chan’s always been a workaholic after all, and that means more often than not, Chan doesn’t always take care of himself as well as he should.

Lately, however, Jisung feels like something has changed about Chan. He’s looked a lot happier lately, and his complaints about not getting enough sleep have been gradually reducing as well. Jisung can’t help but think that part of it has to do with Minho being back, not just as a hero working at 3RACHA, but as Chan’s friend. It’s enough to make Jisung wonder just how close the two of them used to be, and yet for some reason, the thought leaves an uncomfortable tightness in his chest.

The dull thud of china against wood breaks Jisung out of his thoughts. Sana’s smiling warmly down at him, having set a mug of steaming hot coffee in front of Jisung on their small coffee table. Jisung sheepishly thanks her as he sits up to give Sana some space to sit next to him on the couch. The bitter coffee drives away some of his earlier sleepiness, and he sips it slowly as Sana asks, “So, where are you going with Chan this early in the morning?”

Jisung looks up in surprise. “Chan didn’t tell you?”

When Sana shakes her head, Jisung frowns. He doesn’t know why Chan wouldn’t tell Sana, considering she’s his closest friend. Had he perhaps just forgotten to? Or simply didn’t think it important enough to bring up?

“He’s taking me to see a friend of his,” Jisung finally answers, quietly so that Chan wouldn’t be able to hear him from the next room over.

“A friend?”

Jisung shrugs. “I don’t know, that’s all he said. Oh, but mostly he’s going to be telling me about BTS. One of the villains we’re tracking down seems to have been inspired by them, and since I don’t know who they are… Chan said he’d explain.”

Jisung’s voice falters at the sight of how grim Sana’s expression has become. Her eyes flit once towards the closed bedroom door, before she sighs.

“So he’s taking you to see BamBam.”

“Who?”

Sana just shakes her head. “Chan’ll explain. I can see why he didn’t mention anything to me though. He knew I’d worry, but more than that, he knew I wouldn’t approve of this.”

“What do you mean?”

Sana casts the closed bedroom door another glance before she speaks again, her voice barely over a whisper. “All I can say is, I think you’ll understand why he can be so… self-destructive at times, after your little trip. Not just because of what happened with BamBam, but also because he’s blinded by his hatred of BTS.”

Jisung sits up a little straighter, his eyes narrowing at Sana’s words. “You’re saying that as if Chan’s wrong for hating them.”

“He’s not wrong, but I wouldn’t say he’s right either,” Sana replies earnestly, sighing worriedly as she taps her fingers against her chin. “Chan’s told me a little about the case you’re working on right now. The group you’re fighting might be inspired by BTS’s ideals, right? Then I think it’s all the more important that you know their ideals can’t be so easily separated into black and white. Even if no one talks about them anymore, they’ve always occupied a very gray area where the line between right and wrong is blurred, and as long as Chan keeps equating any kind of association with BTS as bad, I’m afraid he’ll just keep making the same mistakes.”

“What kind of mistakes?”

Sana hesitates. Her gaze is soft when she looks over at Jisung and says, “You defeated Levanter, right? What kind of villain do you think he was?”

Jisung doesn’t immediately reply. As far as he knows, Chan hasn’t told Sana that he’s let Minho go free, so Sana’s clearly asking Jisung this, believing Levanter was a villain, and yet…

Sana doesn’t sound like she’s condemning Levanter as a villain. She simply wants to know Jisung’s opinion, wants to know how he’ll answer.

Jisung thinks back to his first meeting with Minho, to their fight when Minho was still just Levanter, a villain on the run with an out of control quirk. He remembers the despair in Minho’s eyes, the endless darkness that threatened to swallow him whole. It’s a sharp contrast to the Minho he’s gotten to know since, playful and teasing and so clearly happy to be a hero once again.

Jisung quietly admits, “I don’t think he wanted to be a villain.”

Sana’s expression is calm despite the glimmer of sadness in her eyes. Softly, she sighs, “I was afraid that was the case.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if Chan’s told you this, but Levanter was a student at JYP High in the year below him. I knew him mainly as an acquaintance, but he and Chan quickly became close friends, to the point where people often talked about them together as a pair, despite being in different years.”

“They must have been really close then,” Jisung comments, even though he’s well aware that Minho and Chan must’ve once been really good friends.

Sana nods, but her expression only grows darker. “Yes, he and Levanter were close. They were the kind of friends who could guess what each other was thinking, and trusted each other no matter what. So when news of Levanter attacking people broke out, when it was reported that Levanter had gone on the run, why do you think Chan gave up on his friend so easily?”

Jisung’s mind goes blank. Now that Sana’s pointing it out like this, he realizes it is a very not-Chan-like thing to not at least give Minho the benefit of the doubt. He knows that would be his gut reaction, if one of Jisung’s closest friends were to suddenly be labelled as a villain. He’d surely be in disbelief first, convinced in the goodness of his friends’ hearts, and he’d probably double down on his efforts to prove his friend’s innocent or at least discover what horrible thing might’ve happened for his friend to do something that went against everything he believed in.

And yet, Jisung remembers distinctly how quickly Chan had denounced Levanter. There had been hurt in his eyes, when Jisung had watched Chan’s news conference on TV, back when Jisung was still just a high school student, but more than that, Jisung remembers the absolute rage that fueled Chan’s energy as he promised to bring Levanter to justice.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Sana says, seeing Jisung’s confusion. “And yet it makes perfect sense if you consider how much Chan hates BTS, and the rumors that arose around Levanter’s fall, the rumors that suggested that he’d been influenced by their ideals, or worse, that he’d secretly been a part of BTS the whole time.”

Jisung’s breath catches in his throat. “But… those were just rumors, right?”

“Yes, no one was ever able to prove how accurate those rumors were, but I think this is enough for you to understand why I’d like you to take what Chan tells you with a grain of salt. I’m not saying you shouldn’t condemn BTS for what they’ve done. They’ve committed horrible crimes that no one should ever forgive them for, and Chan hates them for good reason, but Chan’s hatred of them has also cost him a friend he could’ve had a chance to help. I don’t know why Levanter ended up a villain, but judging by what you’ve said, at the very least, I hope you understand why it’s important to remember that there’s always more than one side to a story. You can’t just be satisfied with what Chan tells you if you really want to learn about BTS. You need to form your own opinion, and I hope you’ll remember to never let your hatred of something get the better of you, Jisung.”

“I’ll try my best,” Jisung nods, offering a small smile. “Thanks for the advice, Sana. I’ll make sure to remember it.”

“As long as you’re aware,” Sana smiles back, reaching out to affectionately pat Jisung on the head. She then gets up from the couch, stretching her arms as she says, “Now where is Chan? He’s really making you wait a long time, isn’t he?”

As if on cue, the bedroom door flies open.

“Jisung! Okay, you’re here, let’s go then,” Chan exclaims, his wet blond hair a mess as he shoves his other arm through his jacket sleeve. “Did you wait long?”

Jisung shakes his head, even though Sana rolls her eyes with a grin as she walks back into the kitchen. While Chan busily collects his things, Sana returns with some snacks for the road. The three of them enjoy some friendly banter before Sana sends them off, but just as she’s about to close the door, she makes eye contact with Jisung again behind Chan’s back.

 _Form your own opinion_.

As Sana’s words echo in his head, Jisung nods back at her, and the front door to the apartment closes with a click.

* * *

“So, why did you make me accompany you this early in the morning?”

Chan holds up a hand for Jisung to wait as he chews on the sandwich that Sana had prepared for them. As they head across the street, away from the subway station, Jisung again can’t help but wonder where they’re going, and if they’re going to be walking on foot the entire way.

Chan finally swallows his food and replies, “We’re going to visit my friend BamBam.”

Jisung nods, recalling what he’d heard from Sana, but he realizes too late that it would be odd to Chan for Jisung to know his name. Chan pauses briefly as he comments, “You knew already?”

“Ah, well, I was talking to Sana while I was waiting and she just… yeah, she told me,” Jisung admits. As expected, Chan’s frown deepens as he lets out a sigh.

“Let me guess, she was worried,” Chan says as he stares glumly down at the sandwich in his hands. When Jisung nods, Chan just sighs again. “I’m going to have to apologize to Sana when we get back then. She’ll going to be worried about me for trying to hide this from her.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, it’s not your fault, Jisung, so don’t worry,” Chan replies. “She probably also told you that I’m too stubborn about my view of BTS then, didn’t she?”

“Something like that.”

Chan sighs. “Well, I don’t suppose she’s wrong, but it’s certainly not something I’m going to get over any time soon either. Judging by your expression, she told you why I didn’t question why Minho had become a villain at first either.”

Jisung nods grimly. “You really hate them that badly?”

“I do, and I know I’m supposed to be some magnanimous hero, but they’re the one group of villains I won’t ever forgive,” Chan says, his expression turning serious. They head down the street in silence for a little while longer before Chan sighs, “I should really apologize to Minho properly when I get back, shouldn’t I?”

“Maybe,” Jisung says. “Minho seems to think he knows why you gave up on him so easily too though.”

“I’m not surprised,” Chan replies with a shake of his head. “He knows very well how I feel about BTS, and although I know now that I really failed Minho, I’m still not sure if I’d handle the news any better if I had known what I do today.”

They both thoughtfully chew on their food in silence, before Chan speaks up again. “Well, either way, that’s not why I wanted to bring you along and tell you about them. Regardless of how I feel about BTS, I still think it’s important for you to know why they’ve become such a taboo topic, and why we can’t let a villain group supporting their ideals rise to power again.”

Jisung nods and waits patiently for Chan to collect his thoughts. Finally, Chan says, “Now, if we’re going to talk about BTS, then I think in the beginning, rather than calling them villains, it might be more correct to call BTS a group of vigilantes.”

Jisung frowns. “So they were basically heroes then.”

“Yes, you could say that,” Chan laughs dryly. “They were classified as villains since officially, they didn’t have the qualifications to be heroes, and obviously they didn’t listen to the government, but for the most part, BTS acted like a group of heroes who went around catching dangerous villains and doing good deeds. It got to the point where quite a lot of people actually began to idolize them, and many of them even joined BTS until it was one of the largest villain groups for a while.”

“So basically it was a group of people who were doing a bunch of heroic things without a license?” Jisung reiterates, pondering the thought. They didn’t sound that bad.

Chan must have seen the look on Jisung’s face, because he nods. “Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Villains feared them for their power, and even the government was at a loss for how to deal with them. The core of BTS was made up of seven people who each had powerful quirks, and their leader was RM, who I believe we mentioned yesterday.”

“The villain Minho took down,” Jisung recalls.

Chan nods. “All of them were protective of the people who’d joined their cause, and their power wasn’t something even heroes at the time could deal with, so as long as the public itself viewed BTS favorably and BTS didn’t do any harm, the government just let BTS be.”

“They must have been a big deal then,” Jisung comments. “I can’t imagine how they could become something no one talks about anymore.”

“Because what I just described was only the beginning of what BTS was,” Chan replies, his tone serious. “Back then, even heroes could be heard secretly praising BTS, since they were essentially being the ideal hero, helping others without getting any monetary rewards for it, defying the government, sticking to their own moral code. They essentially wanted a society that motivated people to help others and do good, but they were also ruthless when it came to getting rid of villains who threatened that ideal they wanted to create. Either way, whether you liked or disliked BTS and what they stood for, it was hard to deny the influence they had, especially on the youth and future aspiring heroes. They honestly might’ve had the chance to revolutionize the system of heroes, but then… I suppose you could say everything started going wrong.”

“What do you mean? Did they get into trouble?”

“Calling it trouble would be putting it lightly. They’ve always been on the edge of going too far, since unlike heroes, they didn’t care if they ended up killing the villains they went after. For the most part, they only killed really atrocious villains, so at first most people turned a blind eye, but then, it wasn’t just villains they started killing.”

The silence that follows presses in on Jisung’s ears as he processes the implications of what Chan had just said. Quietly, he says, “You’re saying they killed heroes too.”

Chan nods, his jaw clenched tight as he fights back what seems to be a sudden onslaught of anger. “There was this hero agency in the past called GOT7. At the time, it was made up of five heroes and two work studies. No one really knows what happened, but they ended up in a fight with BTS, and by the time the police and other heroes were able to arrive on the scene… only three of them were still alive.”

Jisung gulps. Chan’s expression is contorted as he continues, “They were the first heroes BTS killed. After that, it was like BTS had gone off the rails. They were killing villains left and right, and any heroes who might try to stop them would get brutally murdered as well. Anywhere they appeared, death would follow, and not even some of the best heroes could take them on. I started working as a hero around that time, and everyone was trying to figure out how they could weaken this incredibly powerful group of villains. You know about the Kang Mafia right?”

Jisung nods, painfully reminded that they’d been brought up just yesterday when Hyunjin had come asking for help. Chan continues, “They’re why I started gaining recognition by the public, but a large part of it was also because the Kang Mafia Raid was one of our attempts to weaken BTS. We learned that the Kang Mafia had been funding BTS for some time, so we thought cutting off part of their financial resources would put enough pressure on BTS to get them to make a mistake.”

“Did it work?”

Chan’s smile is bitter when he says, “I wonder. In a sense it did, but at the same time, when I think back on it, I think it only made things worse. Less than a week after the Kang Mafia Raid, BTS officially disbanded, and we know that only because when some officers went back to the official residence of the Kang Mafia to close up the investigation, they ended up finding the dead bodies of six of the core leaders of BTS.”

Jisung stumbles a little in his steps as his head snaps towards Chan. He quietly asks, “Are you saying RM, the leader, killed them?”

“That was the only reasonable explanation,” Chan says. “Their injuries appeared to have been caused by some kind of dark energy, which resembled what we knew of RM’s quirk. When everyone realized what RM had done, he immediately became the most wanted villain, not just for the influence he once had, but for the potential danger he posed to the public now that he’d betrayed even his closest allies.

“The rest is pretty much what you know. Minho was able to defeat RM in a grand fight, but when Minho too seemed to have fallen into villainy, everyone went into a panic. The government banned anything to do with BTS, and no one was allowed to even talk about them. People began to think even talking about BTS must’ve been cursed. After all, BTS had gone from beloved vigilantes to feared villains, and with the destruction that RM and Minho both ended up causing, it was easy for people to believe that any involvement with BTS or what they used to be could only lead to misfortune.”

Jisung’s watching Chan’s expression carefully when he says that. There’s a certain conviction in his voice that hints that Chan wholeheartedly agrees with that opinion, especially once he continues, “That’s why if Wonderland really has been influenced by BTS’s ideals, it’s all the more important that we deal with them quickly. Nothing good comes from being influenced by them.”

“But…” Jisung hesitates, gauging Chan’s expression. Perhaps Sana had been right in telling him to think carefully about what Chan tells him. “Minho didn’t actually become a villain right? Though I guess you could say what happened to him was the fault of Wonderland and someone else who was influenced by BTS, but even then, isn’t that strange? What could’ve possibly motivated a group of people who were practically heroes to suddenly become so violent?”

Chan’s expression doesn’t change. “Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter anymore. BTS has long since been defeated, and the people they killed aren’t going to come back.”

Jisung knows why Sana said Chan was blinded by his hatred. Normally, Chan’s point of view would make perfect sense to Jisung if it weren’t for the fact that what happened to Minho almost nearly mirrored BTS’s fall from “hero” to villain. It’s as Chan had said. Something must have gone wrong for this former villain group to have so drastically gone down a different path, but one thing is clear from how easily Chan gave the benefit of the doubt to Minho and not to BTS.

The anger Chan feels towards BTS, it’s more than simply a hero enraged by the crimes of a villain.

It’s personal.

Jisung recalls how emotional Chan had suddenly become when he first brought up GOT7, the first group of heroes that BTS had killed. Jisung feels his heart drop. It’s making sense now, whyhad said Chan was justified in his excessive anger towards BTS, but the realization only makes Jisung feel worse as he quietly says, “The friend of yours we’re going to visit, BamBam, was he related to GOT7 somehow?”

Chan’s sad smile tells him more than what he wants to hear. “He was a work study at GOT7 when they got into a fight with BTS. I should’ve told you this earlier, but, unfortunately, he wasn’t one of the people who survived. We’re going to visit his grave.”

Jisung turns his eyes towards the ground. He doesn’t know what to say, so all that ends up coming out is a quiet, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Chan replies, his voice lighter than Jisung would’ve expected. “I should apologize for not making that clearer to you earlier. It’s just, even after six years, I still find it hard to talk about, so I guess you could say I was avoiding it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jisung says, his eyes still not looking up. “I know that feeling too.”

In the silence that follows, Jisung wonders if maybe he had said too much. He doesn’t need to look up to know that Chan must look surprised to hear Jisung sharing anything about himself beyond what was publicly known. Ever since he’d come to Korea, Jisung has been extremely careful to keep his private life hidden safe inside his head, but seeing Chan, his friend and the person he’s looked up to, look so vulnerable, Jisung can’t help but feel some of his own walls starting to crumble.

He looks up when Chan puts a steady hand on his shoulder. His smile fills Jisung with a warmth like the hot coffee he’d had earlier as Chan says, “I know you don’t like sharing normally, but if you ever want to talk about it, we’re here for you Jisung.”

“I know,” Jisung smiles back, but he wonders if even Chan can tell that his smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

* * *

When they enter the extensive cemetery on the outskirts of the city, Jisung breaks the silence that had fallen over them and asks, “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but you’re going to visit your friend’s grave right? Isn’t that like, personal? You could’ve just told me about BTS back at the office without needing to take me here.”

“Are you that unhappy that I made you wake up so early?” Chan laughs as they start to trek up a set of stone stairs. When Jisung makes a face, Chan continues, “I’m kidding. You’re right, normally, I’d have just told you without all this hassle, but it’s not really just BamBam’s grave we’re visiting I guess. He’s buried with the other GOT7 members who died that day, and while I wasn’t really close with, I usually come by today to pay them my respects. This time though, something you said yesterday bothered me, so I guess I brought you along to help me confirm something.”

“What do you mean?” Jisung asks, frowning as he tries to recall yesterday’s events.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chan waves off, leading the way through the graveyard. “I was probably just being paranoid, and if I tell you now, it might just mislead you.”

Jisung purses his lips but continues to follow Chan through rows and rows of tombstones. Finally, nearing the top of the hill that the cemetery was built on, they approach a row of lush green whose branches tower over their heads. Chan barely takes a few steps before he stops.

“So he really is here.”

Jisung follows Chan’s gaze and notices a young man standing a few feet ahead of them. He’s dressed in a smart-looking attire, a dress shirt and slacks, and his face is turned downwards like he’s staring seriously down at the gravestones in front of him. From the side, Jisung can’t see the man’s face properly. His bangs are so long that they cover his eyes, and his entire face is shrouded in shadows as he keeps his back to the sun.

“Do you know him?” Jisung asks quietly, so as not to disturb the stranger.

“Yeah, he’s one of the members of GOT7 who survived.”

Jisung frowns, less because he’s surprised, but more because he doesn’t know why that information is making Chan frown so much. “Why do you look like that’s not a good thing? It should be normal for him to visit his former friends’ graves, right?”

“Yeah, except I’ve come to visit their graves every year since they’ve passed away, and he’s never visited them on this day before,” Chan gravely replies.

“Maybe he finally found the courage to come visit?” Jisung suggests hopefully.

Chan just shakes his head. “Let’s hope that’s what it is.”

Chan steps forwards out from the shadow of the trees, alerting his presence to the young man as Chan plasters on a smile and calls out, “Youngjae! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

The man turns. As the sunlight hits his face, Jisung’s struck by a strange sense of deja vu. His black hair glows bronze under the light, and his blank expression quickly morphs into a dazzling smile, but Jisung’s struck most by the fact that despite the man’s youthful, glowing looks, his eyes are dark, so dark that it’s like the light’s been sucked right out of them.

He knows those eyes. They’re the same as the ones he saw when he first met Minho, those eyes that look like they’ve long since given up hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Notes of Interesting Quirks**  
>  Name: Minatozaki Sana   
> Profession: Florist  
> Quirk: Cheer Up  
> Description: She can imbue any object she touches with an aura of happiness, and anyone who comes into contact with that object will experience a surge of happiness. It’s a useful quirk that helps her brighten people’s days, especially when they need it.


	18. Nobody Knows

When Youngjae speaks, surrounded by the gentle sunlight, his voice sounds like a beautiful melody to Jisung’s ears. His smile looks like it’s glowing as he says, “Hello, Chan. I’m surprised you still remember me.”

“Of course I remember you,” Chan says. “How could I forget?”

Youngjae’s smile softens. His eyes turn back to the gravestones in front of him. “You know, somehow, knowing you still think about GOT7 when no one else does is a good feeling. Have you been visiting them every year?”

“Yeah,” Chan replies, stepping up next to Youngjae. “What about you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

“Because I haven’t come here, not since the funeral,” Youngjae says candidly with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “I won’t pretend I have. It’s… I haven’t been able to work up the courage to come back on my own.”

In the silence that follows, Youngjae’s eyes look past Chan towards Jisung, who up until that point has been standing back a short distance away. He feels a little awkward, visiting the grave of someone he doesn’t know, in the presence of two people who clearly had been hurt by the deaths of the people whose bodies now lay before them.

“You’re J.One,” Youngjae states simply.

Jisung frowns, but he nods. He knows he’s gotten more popular since he defeated Levanter, but while he doesn’t exactly hide his identity as much as Changbin does, it’s rare for anyone to actually recognize him when he’s not in his hero costume.

“Did you bring him with you today?” Youngjae asks Chan, who doesn’t seem to notice Jisung’s hesitation as he waves Jisung over.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you would be here, and I’ve been having a rough time lately, so I thought bringing a friend would help,” Chan lies smoothly as Jisung nods, shuffling closer to Chan with a slight bow towards Youngjae.

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having a hard time,” Youngjae says somberly as he pats Chan on the shoulder. “I know we weren’t close, but you were BamBam’s best friend, and that kid was like family to me. My words probably don’t mean much to you, but whatever’s bothering you now, I’m sure you’ll get through it.”

“Thanks,” Chan says, and his tone grows audibly warmer. “That actually means a lot, coming from you. I know we never really got the chance to talk before this, but the times when I got to visit GOT7 with BamBam were really some of my favorite memories. I really looked up to all of you.”

Jisung lets out a low whistle before he can stop himself. “Whoa, that’s high praise, coming from Chan. You guys must’ve been amazing heroes.”

“I certainly thought that at one point, but I’m not even working as a hero anymore, so your compliments are invalid,” Youngjae laughs, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

“Even if you’re no longer a hero, I still really looked up to you,” Chan says, “and I’m sure the others in GOT7 would support whatever you chose to do."

“No, they’d probably be disappointed with me if they knew what I was up to,” Youngjae sighs. His expression turns sentimental as he stares down at the four graves in front of him. “Still, you’re right. When the seven of us were together, it really felt like we were undefeatable, especially once BamBam and Yugyeom joined us as work studies. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t bring myself to come back to visit them. Coming back, reliving all the good times we had together, I was scared I’d just feel lonelier than before, but now I’m glad I came. I’m not lying when I say I’m glad I got to see you here today, Chan. Just knowing that you haven’t forgotten about GOT7, about BamBam, Yugyeom, Jinyoung and Jackson, I think it’s the closure I needed.”

Jisung takes a long look at the somber expression on Youngjae’s face. The desolate look he’d first seen in Youngjae’s eyes is gone, but while the older man sounds sincere, something about his voice sounds off to Jisung, like a memory he can’t quite remember.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Jisung says hesitantly in the somber silence, “but there were two other members who survived as well, right? Shouldn’t they be here with you?”

Chan shoots Jisung a look that makes him think he might’ve asked a question he shouldn’t have. Youngjae just sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. “My two friends, Mark, and our leader, Jaebum, it’s true they survived but… Mark’s been a coma ever since the incident, and as for Jaebum, he lost his memories after what happened. For all he knows, he doesn’t know about GOT7, about his friends who died, about me…”

Youngjae’s hands clench and unclench as he takes in a deep breath. “So that’s why I’m here on my own. Honestly, it’s probably for the best that Jaebum’s memories are gone. He was the best leader we could ask for, and although I know he made the right choice that day, the deaths of our friends would’ve crushed him. At least now he gets a second chance to rebuild his life without the trauma of what happened.”

“Wait, have you not seen him since you got released from the hospital, Youngjae?” Chan asks, his mouth set in a stiff frown.

“What would be the point? He doesn’t remember me, and he’s better off not being reminded about what happened to his friends. Unless, did something happen?”

“No, he’s fine, it’s just…” Chan swallows thickly. “He’s not better.”

Youngjae’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve visited him once in a while, just to check up on him, but the doctors said he hasn’t been able to form any new memories. He forgets everything from the day when he goes to sleep, so they haven’t been able to discharge him.”

Jisung can’t read the expression on Youngjae’s face as he takes in the information. The last thing he expects is for Youngjae to let loose a snort of laughter.

“So he can’t remember anything new? Ah man, normally that would be crushing news, but maybe it’s actually a blessing in disguise. Now I don’t have to worry about what Jaebum might think.”

Jisung and Chan immediately exchange a concerned glance as Youngjae runs a hand through his hair. Jisung hadn’t noticed until now, but as Youngjae takes a slight step backwards into the shadows of the trees, he realizes Youngjae’s hands are glowing slightly under the dark shade of the trees, like light is slowly emitting from them.

Youngjae looks up and notices Jisung staring. He glances down at his hands. “Ah, you’re probably wondering what’s wrong with my hands. It’s a side effect of my quirk, you see. It’s harder to control when I’m emotional, but basically, I can store light inside my body and use it in different ways. I get stronger in the sunlight obviously, but since I’m not using my quirk, the excess light is just seeping out through my hands.”

He flexes his fingers and holds his hands up towards Jisung, showing out the waves of light swirl off his fingers. Jisung can tell Youngjae’s watching him carefully, because the moment Jisung narrows his eyes, Youngjae’s mouth splits into a grin. Waggling his fingers at Jisung, light glowing and dancing at his fingers, he laughs, “I know what you’re thinking. They look familiar, don’t they? I can do all sorts of things with light, like this.”

A shimmer of light suddenly screens his eyes from view, and Jisung knows exactly where he’s seen Youngjae before. He leaps at him, shouting, “Chan, he’s Sunshine!”

Chan spins towards Youngjae, but Youngjae is quicker. His body explodes into a brilliant light before Chan can even swing a fist at him, and they watch that light circle around them before stopping on the other side of the them. Youngjae materializes again and says, “There’s no point in trying to catch me, Chan. You can’t match my speed.”

“So you really were Sunshine,” Chan hisses, his fists glowing with a pale blue light.

“Oh, you’re not as surprised as I thought you’d be,” Youngjae says in a slightly teasing tone.

Chan only glares back. “When Jisung described the quirk of the villain he fought, your quirk popped into my mind almost immediately. Plus, it’s rare for Jisung to have enough sense to know who not to pick a fight with. I’d be terrified too, if I had to fight you one-on-one.”

“So that’s the real reason why you brought J.One along then? You thought if I really were a villain, I might come and visit my friends before I go and do something drastic, and then J.One would be able to tell you if your hunch was right or not?” Youngjae laughs, his form flickering in the light. “So everything you just said right now then, it was all a lie to make me let my guard down?”

“No,” Chan says resolutely, taking Youngjae aback. “I meant it when I said I respected you, Youngjae, and I can’t imagine what kind of pain you must have gone through these past few years, but up until Jisung confirmed it just now, I really didn’t want to think you were Sunshine. It doesn’t make sense after all. It makes no sense! After everything you went through, how could you possibly choose to become a villain?”

“I said everyone would be disappointed with me remember?” Youngjae hums, but as he turns his face away from the sight of his friends’ graves, Jisung’s taken aback at the brief flash of bitterness that cuts through Youngjae’s gentle features. He doesn’t understand why Youngjae would make such a look, especially when he turns back around, all smiles.

“Anyways, it’s not something you’d understand, Chan, and I’m not asking you to. There’s no point in trying to explain my motivations to you, so I’ll just get straight to business then. Over the next five days, villains will be intermittently attacking the public, all in the name of Wonderland. Chan, you’ll send J.One and Lee Know to deal with these cases and have them be the faces of the heroes fighting this new villain organization. The villains won’t be that strong; we’re going more for the shock of pure numbers, so there shouldn’t be anyone who’ll give you two a hard time, but, if you’re really worried, maybe I’ll let you send some of your friends to give them a hand, as long as J.One and Lee Know are in the spotlight.”

“What makes you think we’ll listen?” Jisung icily responds.

Youngjae’s eyes turn sharply towards him. Jisung decides he doesn’t like the way Youngjae smiles. Now that he knows Youngjae’s true intentions, he can see that there’s no sincerity to it, as if his smile is just a thin screen hiding something much more sinister behind it.

“You’ll listen if it’s to protect Lee Know.”

“What do you mean?”

Youngjae turns to Chan and says, “Look, Chan, I commend you on your attempt to hide his identity. I tried doing a little digging myself you know, to see what information you’d left available. You’ve hidden his face, his name, his background, so that all the general public knows is that he’s a man with blue hair dancing behind a cat mask. It’s a thorough job, but you’ve forgotten one thing, Chan. I’m not most people. Did you seriously forget how you used to stop by GOT7 with BamBam just to chat about the most mundane things?”

Chan’s face suddenly morphs into something cold and unreadable. “You remembered something like that?”

“I’ll admit, it was just a small detail at the time, but now that I’ve lost all my friends, it’s hard not to remember every little detail of our time together, including the one time BamBam brought you to work because he wanted us to give you advice on your hopeless crush.”

Any other day and Jisung might’ve found the image of teenage Chan going to a hero agency for love advice hilarious, but as Chan and Youngjae icily glare at each other, he can only feel a growing amount of dread for what Youngjae says next.

“You’re going to do what I’m asking you to, Chan. If not, I’m sure the media would love to hear about how a certain Lee Minho once considered using the hero name Lee Know before settling for Levanter, and how the current top hero abused his power to let his former love interest get off scot free.”

Youngjae’s body starts to shimmer, as if it’s just been cast by an illusion of light. His eyes don’t leave Chan as he threatens, “Five days, Chan. Trust me when I say you don’t want to mess this up, for my sake and for yours.”

“What happens after five days?” Chan asks coldly.

“I’ll make my appearance and fight you, J.One, and Lee Know,” Youngjae says, the light beginning to engulf his face so that his eyes look like they’re glowing gold. “Bring whoever you’d like as reinforcements, but just know that when I defeat you, the reputation of you and all the allies you bring will only come crashing down.”

Youngjae’s body begins to vanish into the light, but almost impulsively, a thought crosses Jisung’s mind and he shouts, “Wait! Tell me! Is Sweet Chaos really your leader?”

Youngjae’s body freezes halfway through his transformation. Half his face is engulfed in a violent swirl of light, and his remaining eye is wide with a stunned look on his face. Immediately, Youngjae’s body zaps back into its full form, and he takes a threatening step towards Jisung, any trace of kindness wiped clean off his face. The air around him starts to heat up as Youngjae hisses, “Where did you hear that from?”

“Chaeryeong. His nickname came up when we were gathering information trying to find her,” Jisung says, keeping his gaze steady even as anger slowly spreads across Youngjae’s face. “She didn’t specify anything about him, but we assumed Sweet Chaos must be involved with Wonderland somehow for her to bring him up. For you to be this angry, then I’m right, aren’t I? The new boss of Wonderland is Kang Younghyun.”

Youngjae doesn’t say a word and simply glares back at Jisung, who takes it as his cue to continue. “I might not know much about BTS, but Sweet Chaos was part of the Kang Mafia, who worked with BTS. And yet, you’re working under him despite his association with the villains who killed your friends. Why?”

He doesn’t get the answer he wants. A furious storm of light that wraps around Youngjae’s body, and Youngjae slips away into the sunlight and vanishes, leaving behind a single sentence that echoes in the silent morning.

“Nobody needs to know.”  
  


* * *

Chan is silent the entire way back to his apartment. Only when they’re knocking on his apartment door does Chan finally speak up in a deflated tone.

“I’m sorry, Jisung. I know I’m supposed to step up as the leader and reassure you, but I think I’m going to need the rest of the day off to process this. Do you think…?”

“Don’t worry, Chan, I’ll let the others know what happened today,” Jisung reassures him. The door opens to reveal Sana, who immediately looks worried by the somber expression on Chan’s face. “I’ll take my leave then. I hope you feel better, Chan.”

Chan offers him a faint yet grateful smile before he staggers forward through the doorway. Jisung hastens away as Sana quickly ushers Chan inside, but it’s no use. The door doesn’t close quite fast enough behind them, and the harsh sound of a sob breaking free from Chan’s throat echoes in Jisung’s head as he heads off.

It’s not the first time Chan’s shown his vulnerability in front of Jisung. It slips out every now and then, when they’re dealing with particularly stressful villains, or a tough day at work, and when that happens, Chan tends to escape into his music, locking himself for hours on end in their music studio at the office, trusting Changbin and Jisung to take care of any work that comes there way. Sometimes, even that’s not enough, and that’s when Changbin would call Sana and ask her to stop by to help, if only to be a friend for Chan to talk to about things he clearly didn’t want to burden his younger friends with.

Jisung’s always just assumed this was Chan’s way of setting boundaries between his hero life and his private life. It’s normal for heroes to need time to themselves, a break from the hectic lifestyle of having to save people’s lives everyday, but there’s one thing Jisung’s never understood. Chan loved helping people; it’s simply who he is. Chan’s always explained that his decision to become a hero had been as natural as it was for a human being to breathe, and yet, despite it all, the expression Chan makes, when the stress gets too much and he thinks no one is looking, always has a hint of despair. It’s a look that sometimes makes Jisung wonder if Chan hates being a hero, and until now, Jisung hadn’t been able to understand it.

Now he knows.

Chan lost his best friend while he was working as a hero, and then he thought he’d lost Minho too. It’s enough to make any person question whether being a hero was worth it, if it’s worth the pain of losing the people you care most about and having to worry that those same friends could one day become your enemy.

Then again, Jisung supposes that’s exactly what makes heroes… heroes. Persevering no matter how much personal suffering they had to endure, all for the sake of helping people.

For that reason, Jisung tries his hardest to push the image of Chan looking so vulnerable in front of him out of his mind. It’s enough to know that Chan has a close friend he can trust with his lowest moments, enough to know that no matter what happens, Chan will always bounce back with his warm smiles and uplifting spirits, so, trusting Chan to be the hero and the friend he’s always been, Jisung makes his way back home.

When finding Minho a place to live, they’d decided it would be best if Minho could live somewhere near Jisung, so that he could check up on Minho easily in case something went wrong. Luckily, the apartment next to Jisung’s had been vacant for a while, so they were quickly able to get Minho moved in.

It was strange at first, returning home together with Minho only to part awkwardly in front of their own respective apartments, but for the most part, Jisung appreciates that he’s gotten to preserve the privacy of his alone time. There’s nothing he likes more than just collapsing on his bed and wasting time on his phone after a long day’s work, and he’s grateful that Minho’s not the kind of neighbor to forcefully try to hang out together after work.

Upon reaching his apartment building, Jisung heads up to his apartment but stops first in front of Minho’s door and rings the doorbell. He can’t help but do a double take when Minho answers the door in only sweatpants, his entire upper half exposed.

“Oh, you’re back,” Minho comments, his words coming out slightly sluggishly like he’s still half-asleep. He squints a little at Jisung from behind the large, round glasses he has on. “How’d it go?”

“Uh, fine?” Jisung stammers, doing his best not to stare. “Actually, well, Chan told me to report what happened to you, but well… aren’t you cold?”

Minho raises an eyebrow before glancing down. “Ah, it’s so warm in here that I forgot to change after I woke up. I’ll go get dressed then, but want to come in for now?”

Jisung nods tartly and hastily closes the front door behind him. Only when Minho disappears into his room does Jisung feel like he can breathe properly, and he’s immediately hit with the lingering smell of an enticing breakfast of toast and eggs. Once he’s calmed down, Jisung realizes it’s probably his first time in Minho’s apartment since he helped Minho move in.

He knows it hasn’t been long since Minho started living here, but he’s surprised by how bare the room looks. Other than some essential items, Minho clearly hasn’t bothered to decorate at all. Jisung wonders if Minho just likes the minimalistic look, but as he looks around at the emptiness in the apartment, the feeling Jisung gets is the same way he felt when he first moved to Seoul and took up a room at the school dorm. Jisung hadn’t bothered to decorate his room at first, not until he was several months into the school year, when Felix had seen the state of his room and immediately declared it necessary to decorate it to feel more like home.

Jisung hadn’t had the heart to tell Felix back then that it wasn’t necessary, that he didn’t see the need to make his dorm room hospitable when Jisung was just going to leave once his business in Seoul was done.

Of course, Jisung had ended up staying anyways, so he’s grateful Felix had given his dorm room an entire makeover, but now, looking at Minho’s apartment, Jisung has the sinking feeling that, just as how Jisung had once thought back in high school, Minho doesn’t expect to live here long.

The sound of a door opening breaks Jisung out of his thoughts. Minho has thrown on a sweatshirt and is drowsily trying to tame his bedhead. He comes towards Jisung again and leans casually against a wall. “So, Chan told you all about BTS and GOT7 then?”

“Yeah. Did you know where we were going?”

“I had a guess,” Minho shrugs. “I’m not surprised Chan still goes to visit their graves. I can still remember it like yesterday, the moment when Chan learned what’d happened to GOT7. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen Chan break down like that. Though I wasn’t quite sure why he suddenly decided to bring you with him.”

“Actually, about that…” Jisung begins to explain what had happened at the cemetery, about Youngjae being Sunshine, his demands, and then, the confirmation that Sweet Chaos was leading Wonderland. All throughout Jisung’s story, Minho’s frown only grows deeper and deeper. When Jisung finishes, the first thing Minho says is, “That makes no sense.”

“Which part?” Jisung asks, even though he shares Minho’s sentiment.

“Choi Youngjae would never become a villain,” Minho says resolutely. “People always described him as a hero who was literally the embodiment of light. All of GOT7 really. You’d be hard pressed to find any hero who was more passionate about doing good than GOT7 was.”

“Maybe what happened changed that? I mean, I can’t imagine what it feels like to suddenly lose all your friends like that.”

“I suppose… there is a chance he might want revenge against the media and society in general…”

“What do you mean?”

Minho looks up in surprise. “Ah, did Chan not tell you about the news coverage about what happened?”

Jisung shakes his head. “Why would that matter?”

Minho’s expression twists into something resembles a mix of disgust and irritation.

“The media wasn’t kind to GOT7. BTS might’ve been an illegal group, but they were still a group that commanded more respect than even some of the best heroes at the time. Everyone knew that they’d only ever killed villains, so when the news came out that BTS had killed four members of GOT7, the media and the public went wild with gossip. They were convinced GOT7 must have done something bad to have been targeted, and when the government failed to release any other details about what happened, the seeds of doubt only grew. People started to wonder if maybe other hero agencies were hiding dark secrets, and public confidence in heroes kept declining after that.”

“That… that’s awful,” Jisung murmurs, his eyes cast downwards.

“That wasn’t even the worst of it. BTS ended up killing a lot more heroes after that, and instead of scaring everyone, it only seemed to fuel the rumors that hero agencies were a lot more corrupt than what people initially thought. That’s why the Kang Mafia Raid ended up being such a big deal. It was the first time the heroes had successfully dealt a blow to BTS’s power, and it’s also what finally made the public realize that BTS was no longer as virtuous as they’d once thought.”

Jisung thinks back to what Chan had told him about the incident. Quietly, he murmurs, “You’re talking about how RM killed his friends afterwards.”

“Friends probably isn’t even a good enough word for it,” Minho replies, his voice sounding heavier than ever. “From the little that we knew about the leaders of BTS, they were practically like a family. No one in their right mind would feel good about knowing that RM wouldn’t even hesitate to kill his own friends, and the government took advantage of that by allowing the media to broadcast the images of just how gruesome of a death they’d all suffered.”

Minho hangs his head slightly, his brow knitted together like they were still images he disliked remembering. After a moment of silence, Minho rouses himself from his thoughts and continues on.

“Anyways, going back on topic, considering everything that happened with BTS, I wouldn’t be surprised if Youngjae wanted revenge on the world itself for how they treated GOT7 after his friends’ deaths. He didn’t even get a chance to defend them after all, since he was still unconscious when the rumors spread, and by the time the public had realized BTS was such a threat, everyone was so scared for their own lives that no one really cared about correcting the false rumors they’d spread about GOT7 and the heroes like them who’d been killed by BTS, and their name kinda just faded away like that, especially once everything related to BTS was banned.”

“That’s true… but shouldn’t he also hate BTS for what happened? If Sweet Chaos used to work with them, then why would Youngjae willingly work for someone like that?”

Minho shakes his head, his eyes narrowed. “I don’t know. I just know Youngjae’s always been known to be clever. Whatever he’s up to, it’s going to be something he must’ve thought out very thoroughly.”

A heavy silence envelopes the two of them after that. Jisung thinks back to the bitter smiles on Youngjae’s face from that morning. A hero to a villain, someone who lost it all. It could all be so easily explained if it were rooted in hatred, but just what must be going on in Youngjae’s mind, for someone to abandon the path he and his friends had once set out upon to work with a villain related to the ones responsible for his friends’ deaths?

Minho’s drowsy voice brings Jisung out of his thoughts. “So, that’s all you needed then?”

Jisung nods. There’s a moment of awkward silence before Jisung finally mutters, “Uh, well, I guess I should go then. You probably want your day off to yourself.”

He’s about to head towards the door when his stomach gives a loud growl, reminding him that he hasn’t yet had a proper meal other than the small sandwich Sana had given him.

“Hungry?” Minho laughs, his feet drifting into the kitchen. “That’s actually perfect. I was just about to make lunch.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t want to give you extra work,” Jisung hastily says, but Minho waves him off.

“Don’t be silly. I always make too much food anyways, and it’ll be nice eating with someone for a change. I’m going to go crazy if I spend all my time alone in this place anyways,” Minho says, already pulling out pots and pans from his cabinets. “Besides, the main reason we’re going to be so busy the next few days is because I was dumb about choosing my hero name, so the least I can do is make it up to you with a meal.”

Minho suddenly stops and stares down at all the things he’s piled out onto the kitchen counter. Jisung’s not sure what’s suddenly got Minho feeling down, but without looking at Jisung, Minho mutters, “But I totally understand if you’d rather spend the rest of the day off to yourself. I know it must be tiresome for you to have to watch over me after work too.”

Jisung takes in the way Minho carefully keeps his face hidden from Jisung and the way his voice can’t completely keep out a hint of worry. He frowns and tilting his head to one side, he bluntly says, “Are you saying you’ve been waiting for me to invite myself over to hang out?”

“When you put it like that, it makes it sound like I miss your company,” Minho scoffs as he turns to Jisung again, rolling his eyes.

“Is that not what you meant?” Jisung teases back, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards.

“Of course not,” Minho laughs, but Jisung can tell it’s forced. “You’re forgetting I was a fugitive for four years, Jisung. I’m used to being on my own.”

Something about the way Minho says that makes Jisung feel a slight twinge of pain in his heart. He can tell Minho doesn’t realize his words are only proving Jisung’s point. Before Minho can ramble on any further, Jisung summons forth the biggest smile he can muster and loudly declares, “You know what, lunch sounds great. I’m starving! Make me food, Minho!”

“I’m rescinding my invitation. I don’t want your company,” Minho stubbornly huffs as he fights the smile that’s creeping up onto his face.

“Too late,” Jisung cackles, already sliding up to Minho’s side. “Come on, what’re you going to make? If your cooking’s any good, maybe I won’t ever eat alone in my apartment ever again.”

“My cooking’s great, thank you very much,” Minho grumbles, but soon enough, there’s nothing left but smiles and laughter between the two of them as their conversation turns to lighter, more trivial topics that eat away the passing of time well after their light lunch is finished. And if Jisung decides to stay for dinner too, just so he can continue to enjoy how alive and bright Minho’s smiles look as they chat, he decides that’s nobody else’s business but his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~**Hero Notes**~~  
>  Name: Choi Youngjae  
> Hero Name: Ars  
> Agency: GOT7  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: Light Absorption  
> Description: His quirk allows him to store light inside his body, which then allows him transform any part of his body into pure light, which allows him to burn his opponents or move at the speed of light. However, overusing his quirk will cause his body to be consumed by light and turn him into a harmless ball of light until his body can recover.


	19. Friends and Foes

The next few days are the busiest Jisung ever remembers being as a hero. 

Just as Youngjae had said, villains suddenly begin showing up all over the city, declaring themselves a part of the villain organization Wonderland. No one knows what to make of this sudden increase in villain activity at first, but as Jisung and Minho continue to begrudgingly deal with each villain that Youngjae was essentially blackmailing them to fight, the names of J.One and Lee Know slowly begin to rise as a prevalent topic. People begin recognizing Jisung in public more than ever, and while grateful for the attention, there are times when Jisung feels happier to hide in the shadow of Minho’s presence and let Minho divert people’s attention from him. Changbin had also taken to accompanying them to some of their fights, if only to ensure his cold and dark persona would keep people from crowding in too close to the heroes whenever they appeared. Jisung knows Changbin would never admit it, but he’s grateful for the way Changbin’s been looking out after him.

While the villains alone don’t pose much of a threat, Jisung can’t help but feel more and more drained as the week goes on. During the first four days, six different villains bombard Jisung and Minho with drastically different quirks, from making illusions to putting people to sleep, and Jisung’s well aware by now that he never would’ve succeeded in defeating them without his friends. If anything, it’s only made Jisung realize how limiting his quirk can be. He’s always considered himself a good fighter, but against large-scale quirks that force Jisung to keep his distance, it’s Minho who ends up saving the day. 

Not that Jisung minds; he knows that Minho’s been gifted with a quirk that’s perfect for battle, but perhaps it’s because there’s nothing at stake in fighting these villains who have so far caused more intrigue and caution than actual harm that Jisung finds himself going to bed on Thursday night tired and just wishing Minho could take care of the fifth and final day on his own.

As luck would have it, on the fifth day, Jisung wakes up to the news that a literal dragon is attacking the city, roaring about the might of Wonderland. 

Jisung immediately leaps out of bed, swearing under his breath as he struggles to pull on his hero costume. He stumbles out the door and to Minho’s apartment, banging as loudly as he could on the door.

“Minho! Hurry up, it’s an emergency—!”

The door swings open. Minho doesn’t even hesitate as he drags Jisung into the apartment and storms towards the balcony without a word. He steps out onto the balcony and gestures towards the open space below them. “I saw, there’s a dragon right? We might as well skip the stairs and fly as fast as we can there.”

Jisung nods, but he notices how Minho takes one glance below the balcony and freezes. 

“What’s wrong?” Jisung asks.

Minho shakes his head, trying to keep his hands from shaking. “Sorry, for a second I forgot I’m really not good with heights.”

Jisung knows how Minho feels. He’s not great with heights either, but at this point, Minho’s wind powers are the easiest way for them to actually get to this dragon villain before it can cause even more damage. 

Without a moment to lose, Jisung reaches out and takes Minho by the hand. “I think I can help. I’ll probably be able to at least mask your fear with my quirk, so you just focus on getting us there and not dropping me, how about that?”

Immediately, Jisung activates his quirk, reaching his mind into the area of Minho’s brain that produces fear. He doesn’t like messing with a person’s thoughts, but at the very least, he knows he’d be able to temporarily block things like emotions without too much of a damaging effect. As he works on closing off that part of Minho’s brain, he faintly hears Minho gasp and murmur, “Whoa, I never thought I’d be able to look down without shaking.”

“Sorry, it’s probably a strange feeling, right?” Jisung says, his mind still focused on the task. “You’ll go back to normal soon, but for now, you think you can get us safely to our destination?”

“Already on it,” Minho says, and Jisung feels Minho pick him up effortlessly. He’s almost glad all his focus has to be on using his quirk, as Minho takes a bold, flying leap off the balcony and the roaring wind hurls the two of them into the sky. Jisung clutches onto Minho even tighter, but he’s momentarily distracted by the ringing sound of Minho’s laughter. He cracks an eye open to find a delighted smile stretched across Minho’s face.

“What’s so funny?” Jisung mutters, unable to take his eyes off Minho.

“I don’t know,” Minho laughs. “I never knew there’d be a day when I’d enjoying using my quirk to fly! This is amazing!”

Jisung bites back a smile. “Enjoy it while you can. I’m not putting myself through this experience again.”

Minho makes a face at Jisung. “It’s a shame you can’t use your quirk on yourself then.”

Jisung’s grip tightens on Minho’s body. Trying to keep his voice steady, Jisung takes a moment before he quietly admits, “Actually, I can.”

If they were running, Jisung thinks Minho would probably have stumbled. His balance shakes a bit, but soon they’re back on track, heading straight for where the news had reported seeing the dragon. With nothing but the whistling wind in his ears, Jisung hears Minho quietly say, “Sorry, I must’ve sounded insensitive. Mind if I ask why you don’t use your quirk on yourself then, if you can do these things like getting rid of fears?”

“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Jisung replies. “I have the power to take the easy way out. It’d be easy for me to permanently rid myself of the ability to feel fear, or get rid of anything I don’t like about myself. But if I got rid of my fears, if I made myself stronger, even if it was just for a fight… then what would stop me from just changing everything I didn’t like about myself permanently? But if I did that, at what point would I stop being myself altogether? That’s why I’m not going to let you keep your free upgrade either, Minho. You’re already strong enough without it, especially compared to me.”

Minho stops so fast that Jisung almost goes flying out of his arms. He grips Minho tighter as wind swirls around them, keeping them in midair, and hesitantly says, “Minho?”

“You’re strong too, you know,” Minho says quietly, pushing his mask away slightly to better stare down at Jisung. “It takes strength to not abuse your powers, and true strength comes from people with good hearts.”

“Uh, ok, but I think we should get going—”

“Jisung, listen.” Minho’s hands grip Jisung tighter, forcing Jisung to meet Minho’s eyes. “We’re about to go fight a dragon, and this entire week has been tough, but that doesn’t mean you get to start putting yourself down or anything. You've been looking down lately, so I want you to know you’re stronger than you think, Jisung, and I’m not saying this just because you saved my life. You’ve decided to live with your flaws and overcome them on your own. That makes you an amazing hero, Jisung, so believe in yourself a little more.”

At first Jisung’s too stunned to even respond. A little voice in the back of his head reminds him that they’re wasting time, but for a moment, he’s lost in the sincerity in Minho’s eyes. He stammers out, “Thanks.”

Minho just offers him a mysterious smile before taking off once again. Just as Jisung’s still pondering Minho’s words, Minho suddenly says, “We should fly like this again sometime in the future.”

Jisung frowns. “I just said I’m not going to—”

“I mean without you blocking my fear of heights,” Minho cuts in. “Just you and me, just the way we are. Let’s get over our fears together, Jisung.”

Jisung bites back a smile, hiding it by turning his face away from Minho as he pretends to focus on his quirk. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

* * *

As it turns out, the real hero of the fights ends up being neither Jisung nor Minho. Seungmin shows up just as Jisung and Minho are about to run out of ideas on how to defeat the fireproof, waterproof, and wind-resistant dragon who tauntingly flies high above them. Jisung almost doesn’t see Seungmin at first. All he hears is the low thrumming sound of a bass before Seungmin appears next to them, hovering slightly in the air by the sound waves he’s producing from his body.

“Need help?” Seungmin grins. It’s been a while since Jisung’s seen Seungmin fully dressed in his hero costume, which is a sky blue and black skin-tight suit that’s been padded with sound absorption material. Minho stares at Seungmin for a moment, eyes fixed onto the blue helmet on Seungmin’s head, fit with protective shades and sound blocking earmuffs. 

Minho asks, “Who’re you?”

“It’s Young Wings,” Jisung replies, knowing Seungmin can’t quite hear them in his outfit. He catches Minho’s still confused look and whispers, “That’s Seungmin’s hero name.”

As Minho nods in understanding, Jisung gestures wildly at Seungmin, pointing up at the dragon circling above them, then pointing at himself and Minho, miming punching it and shaking his head dejectedly. Seungmin laughs in response and says, “Guess it’s time for me to shine.”

He shoots up into the air, which quivers with the sounds waves he leaves behind him, a shimmering illusion of wings appearing behind his back.

“Wait, what’s his quirk again?” Minho asks Jisung. 

Jisung just shoots him a smile. “Just wait and see, Lee Know.”

Seungmin flies higher up, so quickly even the dragon doesn’t react. Seungmin positions himself right above the dragon. Suddenly, everything falls silent as Seungmin stops using his quirk, and he free falls straight towards the dragon which opens its mouth wide, looking ready to swallow the hero whole.

Seungmin pulls his right hand back, and just as he’s about to come into contact with the dragon, he thrusts his hand forward. A sonic boom shoots out of his hand with a loud crack, pummeling into the dragon that shrieks in pain as it’s thrown back towards the ground. It flaps its wings struggling to stay in the air, but Seungmin throws both of his hands out, creating a large barrier of sound waves that slowly force the dragon back towards the ground. The dragon snarls back, “It’s not over yet!”

The dragon opens its mouth wide again, heat building up as it prepares to let loose a gush of fire. While keeping up the pressure in one hand, Seungmin simply makes a finger gun with his right hand, points it straight towards the dragon’s mouth, and says, “Bam!”

A sonic bullet rips through the air from the point of his finger with a crack, piercing the dragon who howls in pain, finally dropping to the ground with a crash.

Minho’s jaw falls wide open. He snaps his head towards Jisung and mouths, “Did he really just do that?”

Jisung just grins back and races towards the fallen dragon, taking the opportunity to land on the dragon’s back with a flying leap. He wraps his hands tightly around one of the spikes along the dragon’s back and squeezes his eyes tight as the dragon tries to throw him off. Jisung shouts, “Let’s get you back to your human form, shall we?”

His eyes glow red. He’s never tried undoing a person’s transformation quirk before, but luckily, the villain’s quirk is actively fighting against him, making it easy for Jisung to trace the villain’s quirk to its source. Compared to trying to force Wonderland’s parasite from someone’s body, it’s almost too easy to overpower the villain’s quirk and isolate it temporarily from the villain’s body. Within moments, the dragon fizzles out of existence until Jisung feels not scales but human flesh back underneath the palms of his hands. He opens his eyes just in time to see tough looking young man with fiery red hair that match the dragon’s scales glaring up with at him. The young man snarls as he pushes Jisung off with his powerful arms and leaps back onto his feet. With his hands in his pockets, he towers over Jisung, looking irritatingly casual as he sneers, “I underestimated you, J.One. I didn’t think your quirk was that strong.”

“It’s really not,” Jisung taunts back before running in for an attack. 

The villain blocks him easily, turning him aside with one hand still in his pocket. He laughs, “Let me introduce myself. The name’s Song Mingi. Sunshine might be making us dance around for the sake of his plan, but I’ll have you know I’m one of the original members of Wonderland, so don’t underestimate me, J.One.”

“No one’s underestimating someone who can transform into a dragon,” Jisung grumbles back. Mingi grins as he rushes towards Jisung, taking his hand out of his pocket. With one powerful thrust, he grabs Jisung by the collar, wrenching him nearly off his feet and swinging him in the other direction, straight into the beam of sound waves that Seungmin had just shot towards Mingi. 

Jisung hears Seungmin shout, “Sorry, J.One!”, but he’s too busy trying wrench Mingi’s grip off his jacket collar as his entire body trembles from being hit by Seungmin’s attack. He swings his legs upwards and lands a firm kick straight into Mingi’s chest, knocking the larger man backwards.

Jisung pulls free, but as Mingi’s hand is ripped free from his collar, Jisung realizes something’s been snuck into the collar of his jacket. He pulls it out in a hurry but freezes at the sight of the crumpled ball of paper in his hands. His eyes snap up towards Mingi, who cryptically smiles and shrugs his shoulders ever so casually. From the corner of his eye, Jisung can see Minho summon up a wave of water with a gentle swirl of his hands and send it forth towards Mingi. He’s about to say something when Mingi, staring at the paper in Jisung’s hands, just shakes his head as he bites his lip. Ever so slightly, he pretends to trip over his feet, stumbling right into the path of Minho’s attack.

“J.One, you okay?” Minho shouts, running forward as Mingi is thrown into the ground, unconscious. Jisung nods numbly, curling his fist tightly around the paper in his hands. What happens next becomes a blur to Jisung, as the police arrive on the scene to take Mingi away, and civilians crowd around the street. As far as damages go, there isn't much other than the cracked streets from when Seungmin had shot Mingi back towards the ground. Still, the sight of a dragon had been more than enough to scare people into running for cover, and Jisung somehow manages to make it through an interview with a newscaster spilling praises left and right for Minho and Jisung’s quick response to the situation. When the newscasters asks to interview the hero Young Wings however, Jisung suddenly realizes Seungmin’s nowhere to be found.

“Actually, if you’ll excuse us, we still have the rest of our hero work to do,” Jisung hastily cuts off the interview and tugs Minho away in search of his friend.

As expected, he finds Seungmin hiding in an alleyway, leaning heavily against the side of a building for support. His helmet has been cast onto the ground, and his left hand is tightly clenched around his right forearm, which is trembling visibly even in the darkness of the alleyway.

“Seungmin! How bad is it?” Jisung asks, rushing forward to support him. Seungmin just smiles meekly as Jisung pulls up Seungmin’s sleeve. He winces a little at the mottled purple bruises that have formed all along Seungmin’s arm and quickly begins to use his quirk to heal them.

“Sorry, Jisung, for making you do this every time,” Seungmin says, his voice shaking. 

“Don’t be silly,” Jisung chastises, focusing his attention on mending the muscles in Seungmin’s arms. “You really saved us today. It’s the least I can do to help you.”

“What’s wrong?” Minho asks from behind them. He looks concernedly at Seungmin’s arm. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“It’s my quirk,” Seungmin quietly says, letting out a long breath when Jisung finally finishes healing his arm. “I can produce and amplify sound waves directly with my own body, but there’s drawbacks too. Unfortunately, my body can’t handle the blowback of the vibrations created by my quirk, so I end up getting hurt if I use too much power. It’s why I’m not really that active as a hero.”

Minho takes a moment before he says, “I don’t mean this in a bad way, Seungmin, but you don’t seem like the type to let some injuries stop you from being a hero. I mean, just from how you fought today, if you really were afraid of getting hurt, you wouldn’t have used your quirk so recklessly.”

Seungmin looks taken aback, but his shock is quickly replaced with a smile. “Huh, I didn’t think anyone’s ever suggested that I’m a reckless fighter. I’ve always thought of myself as more of the calculative type.”

“So something else is stopping you from working too hard as a hero,” Minho comments.

His words make Seungmin grimace. “Sorry, you’re right, but it’s not something I’m really comfortable sharing just yet.”

“Understood,” Minho says, offering a smile. “Pretend I never asked then. Anyways, Jisung, what’s that you’ve got in your hand?”

Jisung snaps to attention. He realizes this entire time, his right hand has been tightly curled around the wad of paper that Mingi had given him. He unclenches his fist slowly, staring at the crumpled paper, and says, “I’m not sure, but the villain we just fought, Mingi? He gave this to me.”

He unfolds the wad of paper, his brow creasing further into a frown. Seungmin and Minho crowd around him, and the trio falls silent, confusion in the air as they read the single sentence scrawled on the note.

_If you want to defeat Sunshine, treat him not as an enemy, but as a friend._

* * *

Luckily, other than fighting Mingi, no other villain comes out to challenge them, and with the fight with Youngjae looming closer, Jisung had gone home with Minho in the evening, grateful that the afternoon had been relatively peaceful. However, upon reaching his apartment, he finds Felix and Seungmin waiting outside his door.

“Hey,” Felix calls out with a wave. “Mind letting us in?”

Jisung rolls his eyes as Felix and Seungmin step aside to let Jisung unlock his door. “You’re going to come in whether I let you or not, so why bother asking?”

“Just out of courtesy,” Felix laughs before he turns to Minho and asks, “Wanna join? We’re ordering take out.”

“Don’t invite other people without asking me,” Jisung grumbles but he quickly regrets it when he sees Minho’s expression slightly fall. He stammers, “I meant, you’re free to join, Minho. I don’t want to third-wheel these two by myself anyways.”

“You know you like hanging out with us,” Seungmin snorts, inviting himself into Jisung’s apartment the moment Jisung opens his door. Felix follows his boyfriend with a skip in his step, but he casts Jisung a smirk that Jisung can’t quite decipher.

“You sure I can join?” Minho asks. “I don’t want to intrude on you guys.”

“It’s fine,” Jisung insists, cracking a smile. “I’m sure Felix would love to have you around, and consider it as thanks for letting me hang out with you all day on Sunday.”

Minho smiles at that and finally enters Jisung’s apartment, but as Jisung follows, he notices that Minho has paused in the doorway. Jisung is suddenly acutely aware of the fact that compared to Minho’s apartment, his must look like a mess. There’s clothes piled in different corners of the room, and the desk in his living room is covered in empty cups and scattered sheets of notebook paper. Felix and Seungmin have made themselves at home by taking a seat at his kitchen table, which is clear only because Jisung so rarely ever makes himself food, but even then the trashcan in the kitchen is filled with cup ramen bowls and disposable chopsticks.

“Uh, sorry for the mess,” Jisung squeaks out, not sure why he suddenly feels so embarrassed at the thought of Minho seeing how much of a mess he normally leaves his apartment.

Minho glances back at Jisung, who’s surprised by the gentle smile on Minho’s face. “Don’t worry about it. It looks homey.”

Jisung feels heat rush to his cheeks. He ducks down to take off his shoes to hide his face from Minho, listening in as Minho joins Felix and Seungmin at the table. When he’s sure that his face is back to normal, he takes in a deep breath and joins them.

“So, why are you two here?” Jisung asks. “Also, just so you know, I’m not paying for the food.”

“I know, I know,” Felix says, waving him off. “Seungmin told me about the note you got? I thought we’d stop by to talk about it. As for food, I’ll pay for it. You helped heal Seungmin today after all, even though I’ve told him he needs to be more careful.”

“Lix, we were up against a dragon!” Seungmin protests. “What else was I supposed to do? Sing it to sleep?”

"Honestly, I'd rather you do that than overexert yourself," Felix snaps. 

Seungmin scowls. "Well I'm sorry I'd rather use my quirk than live my entire life afraid of it!"

Before their bickering can turn into a full on argument, Jisung cuts in loudly, “Anyways, let’s order food, and then we can talk.”

Felix rolls his eyes and presses his tongue against the inside of his cheek, while Seungmin turns away from Felix, sulking. Jisung just sighs, though a part of him wants to laugh when Minho makes eye contact with Jisung, looking clearly bewildered and uncomfortable. Jisung mouths, "They'll be fine."

Sure enough, after they order some pizza and pasta from an Italian place, Felix is quickly appeased once the food arrives, and Seungmin doesn't hold onto his anger for much longer when Felix sheepishly scoops large amounts of pasta onto Seungmin's plate. With the cheerful atmosphere back, as they eat, Jisung fishes out the note that Mingi had passed onto him, showing it to Felix.

“I mean, he has a point,” Felix says, swirling his fork in his pasta. “With Sunshine as our enemy, it’s not going to be easy to defeat him. We’re talking about fighting a villain who’s powered by sunlight, who can move the speed of light and burn through everything in sight. As far as I can tell, our best bet in defeating him would be to do so at night, which clearly isn’t going to happen if Youngjae decides where we’ll be fighting him.”

They all fall silent for a while before Seungmin speaks up. “This doesn’t make sense. Mingi's with Wonderland right? How can we be sure this isn’t some ploy to distract us?”

Jisung frowns. He realizes Seungmin has a good point, but when he thinks back to the expression on Mingi’s face, right before he was hit by Minho’s attack, he wonders if the expression on Mingi's face as he bit down on his bottom lip out had been fear or worry. 

“Actually, you said his full name was Song Mingi, right?” Felix suddenly says with a pondering look.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well, actually I’ve come across that name before. When I was looking into Kim Hongjoong,” Felix says. “They were in different years, but they attended KQ High together, and it seems they were good friends too.”

Jisung suddenly recalls exactly what Mingi had said to him. “Wait, he said he was an original member of Wonderland, and he didn’t seem happy that he was attacking the public on Youngjae’s orders either. If he went as far to try to secretly give me this note, then it must mean he was afraid Youngjae would notice and stop him. Do you think he’s trying to stop Wonderland just as Hongjoong had wanted us to?”

“That’s a possibility,” Felix muses. “So there’s two opposing factions in Wonderland then? The ones under Sweet Chaos, and the ones who still think of Hongjoong as their leader, but who still work for Wonderland, likely out of fear. I don’t blame them though. Youngjae’s powerful enough already, and I can’t even begin to imagine what Sweet Chao’s quirk is. Too bad it’s classified information…”

Jisung doesn’t say anything in response. Stuffing his face with food, he quickly diverts the conversation back to the topic of the note. “I don’t get it though. How would treating Youngjae as a friend help us in a fight against him?”

“Maybe it’s not about fighting him as a friend,” Minho comments, munching quietly on his food. “If we were friends with Youngjae, how would we want to stop him?”

“I don’t know,” Jisung mutters. “We’re not his friends after all, and his friends all either dead or…”

Jisung freezes, a light bulb going off in his head. He leaps to his feet and starts scrambling for his phone.

“Jisung, is everything okay?” Minho calls out.

“I need to call Chan,” Jisung says hastily, finally finding his phone somewhere inside his bag.

“What, why?” Seungmin asks.

Jisung ignores him, impatiently waiting for Chan to pick up. When he finally does, Jisung doesn’t even wait for Chan to speak. He says, “Chan! I need you to tell me everything about Youngjae’s friends in the hospital. I think I know how we can defeat Youngjae!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Villain Notes**  
>  Name: Song Mingi  
> Villain Name: Mingi  
> Villain Organization: Wonderland  
> Blood Type: B  
> Quirk: Dragon  
> Description: He can transform into a full-sized dragon. This allows him to breathe fire and fly, and his scales make him resistant to fire and water attacks. Fun fact: his scales change colors depending on what color he dyes his hair.


	20. Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating now because my time will 100% be consumed by the new album and the comeback (in 3 hours lol). stream god's menu 🔥🔥
> 
> Also, i'm sorry i haven't gotten around to it, but thank you so much for all the kind comments and kudos! i hope this fic will continue to live up to your expectations :D

The students at JYP High are split between day students and boarding students. Of those living at the dorms, most are still in bed this early on a Saturday morning, but a few are out on the track field playing soccer when one student suddenly points to the school gate, shouting, “Look!” 

Almost everyone turns to watch as a blinding ray of light shoots up into the sky before descending again in front of the gate. The student with the ball ignores the chaos, taking advantage of the distraction to aim the ball towards the goal with a powerful kick. Against all odds, the ball hits the goal post and bounces away towards the gate, landing right in front of the light that shimmers away into the form of a young man.

Youngjae blinks in surprise at the soccer ball by his feet. He picks it up, looks over at the students, and strolls over.

“Y-you’re trespassing!” one student shouts, as a couple of them take on defensive stances.

“I guess I am,” Youngjae laughs, glancing around at the various students who’ve brought out their quirks before throwing the ball back towards a girl with spiky yellow hair and whose entire body is crackling with electricity. The girl catches it with a frown while the others exchange looks, not quite sure what to make of someone so boldly breaking the rules.

“Relax, kids,” Youngjae says breezily with a smile that partially diffuses the tense atmosphere. “I know I’m supposed to get a permit, but I’ve didn’t have time for that. I’ve got important things to discuss with your principal.”

“About what?” a boy with bubblegum pink hair demands. He’s one of the few who still seems wary of Youngjae, though there’s no clear indication of what his quirk might be.

“You kids must have heard about Wonderland right?” Youngjae says.

Most of them nod, which makes Youngjae smile. “Well, I caught word that they might be targeting JYP High next, so I’m off to warn the principal. You kids should be careful you know, though I’m sure you’re all powerful enough to fight them off.”

The pink haired boy is still staring at him suspiciously, but Youngjae watches as some of the students wander off back to their game. The girl with the ball throws it to her friend, who catches it with his bare hands, sets it back on the ground and kicks it straight towards the pink-haired boy, who spins around with lightning reflexed and knocks the ball away with his bare right hand. Everyone’s too busy laughing or shouting to notice the redness on each of their skins linger for a moment too long before fading away into their skin, and the pink-haired boy gets fully distracted as he starts yelling at his friends about foul play. Youngjae takes it as his cue to leave, though as he does, he can’t help but shake his head.

“Kids these days, they’ve really got no sense of danger.”

* * *

Taking out the principal is the easiest part of Youngjae’s day. 

He’s been providing information to JYP High about potential threats for years, a half-hearted attempt to keep up his hero work even after Youngjae had quit being a hero. It’s too easy to make up a lie that he’s got information about Wonderland attacking JYP High, too easy to catch the principal off guard and knock him unconscious. It’s so easy that it bothers him. 

Youngjae sets his phone down on the coffee table in the principal’s office and sits down, waiting for the phone call. As Youngjae waits for time to pass, he can’t help but reflect on how easy it was for him to infiltrate the principal’s office. He either makes a horribly good villain for someone who used to be a hero, or he’s lucky enough to still have the appearance of someone who can be trusted.

Youngjae doesn’t like the thought of the latter. As much as he’s decided to dedicate himself to this so-called life as a villain, he doesn’t like the idea of taking advantage of people’s trust in him. He’s got too much of a hero’s mindset drilled into him, courtesy of the one and only Im Jaebum. 

Chan’s words from the other day reappear in Youngjae’s mind. Jaebum. His leader. The one hero he’d always looked up to. Youngjae hadn’t been able to bring himself to go see Jaebum in the hospital after the first time. It’d hurt too much to see his friend a shell of his former self, but Youngjae had assumed Jaebum would get better, that he’d go off and regain even a little of his former happiness.

To think Jaebum’s still in the hospital… Youngjae hates how he’s almost relieved to hear the news. It means at the very least, Jaebum won’t ever know just how far Youngjae’s fallen. Still, it’s not a pretty thought. 

As Youngjae’s eyes wander the room, he catches sight of the school yearbook from the year he graduated. He doesn’t know what comes over him. Taking the yearbook from the shelf, he flips through it till he finds the photo he’s looking for.

It’s a photo of GOT7 from a little before Youngjae had graduated. The seven of them are squeezed into the photo, posing in front of the newly opened GOT7 agency. It’s the place where Youngjae once thought all his dreams would come true, the place where Youngjae thought he and the people he’d come to think of as family would spend the next few years, decades even, working for dreams, surrounded in the happiness of having each other.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the happiness he thought he’d have for forever slipped through his fingers, never to come back.

At that moment, as if right on cue, Youngjae’s phone rings. He glances at the caller id, and, even if he’s expecting the call, he struggles to keep a scowl from forming on his face.

Youngjae answers the phone with a tart, “What?”

“Is that how you treat someone older than you?”

“If that’s all you have to say…”

“Hey, learn to loosen up a little, Sunshine. Did you finish your task?”

“Yeah, a while ago. I’ve been waiting for you to call for a while now,” Youngjae grumbles, eying the still unconscious principal who he’s left tied up on the floor. “You better keep your end of the deal.”

“I will,” Sweet Chaos replies, and then in a quieter voice, “As much as I’d rather not.”

Youngjae clenches his jaw tightly. There’s something ugly bubbling up inside of him, and he knows if he opens his mouth now, everything he’s wanted to say these past few years might just come gushing out.

_Don’t go back on your word._

_This was your plan._

_You promised._

…

_I’m sorry._

He can’t bring himself to voice any of them. 

In the end, Youngjae just hangs up without replying. As he sets down his phone, he realizes that his hand is still resting on the photo in the yearbook, which is currently now in flames. He’d gotten so worked up his hand must have burst into light.

Youngjae sits back, watching as the flames eat up his happiest memories. He doesn’t fail to notice how even in the flames, the image of his friends still smiles back at him, like they’re trying to encourage him, trying to tell him he’s still got a chance to do the right thing.

“I’m sorry guys,” Youngjae whispers into the silence, “but letting people down is all I can do.”

* * *

Seven heroes are waiting inside the 3RACHA agency when they receive news of the attack on JYP High. Chan sighs as he gets up from his desk. “Well, he sure knows how to hit close to home. Everyone’s clear on the plan, right?”

He looks out at the heroes he’s gathered in front of him. J.One adjusts his mask, fidgeting slightly. His outfit today is a little different than usual. He’s fit completely with a ski mask, helmet and protective goggles, so that he looks more like he’s about to go skiing than to a dangerous fight. It’s a protective measure they all agreed on, but Chan just hopes it’s not too obvious why they’ve gone overboard with protecting J.One’s face.

“I’m still a bit worried,” J.One admits, his voice slightly muffled. 

Young Wings sticks protectively to J.One’s side and gives J.One’s hand a tight squeeze. Lee Know also pats J.One reassuringly on the shoulder and says, “You’ll be fine. If anyone can trick a villain, it’s you.”

J.One turns to Lee Know, pausing slightly before seemingly remembering that no one can technically see him smile right now. TMT knocks slightly on J.One’s helmet to get his attention before saying, “Don’t worry. If you need something, my plants can let me know. They’ll hear you.”

“Thanks, Hyun—,” J.One clears his throat, “I mean, TMT. Hero names from here on out, right?”

Chan nods. He straightens the collar of his jacket as he looks between his friends. Finally, he holds out his hand, first to Lee Know. Staring into his eyes, Chan asks, “Well, do you trust me, my friend?”

Lee Know grips Chan’s hand firmly. Chan can’t see Lee Know’s smile, but he can see the determination in Lee Know’s eyes, and it fills him with a strength beyond just the boost Chan normally receives from his quirk. Lee Know replies, “I do.”

The familiar electric blue glow surrounds their clasped hands as Chan’s eyes glow the same color. He can feel Lee Know’s strength thrumming through his blood, waiting to be activated. By the time he goes around the room, asking each of his friends in turn the same question, Chan feels like he has the strength to smash through buildings and leap towards the sun, literally. Chan grabs his cape from where it hangs on the wall and clasps it onto his hero costume with a flourish before turning back to his friends. Barely able contain the excited grin on his face, Chan declares, “Well then, team, let’s go catch ourselves a villain!”

* * *

When the heroes land inside the walls of JYP High, for a moment, everyone’s too stunned to move.

JYP High, their beloved high school, known for its pristine high-tech buildings and expansive gardens and parks (for that good oxygen and immersion in nature), looks like a literal hellscape.Trees are on fire, pathways cracked and destroyed, and a dark storm cloud is growing rapidly above the school campus. Left and right, clusters of fights have broken out and what appears to be students and teachers taking charge. Some are fighting, some are running around evacuating with the injured, but even more appear to be in a panic. JYP High has never in its entire history been attacked like this, and even for those aspiring to be heroes, Chan knows a situation like this might be too over-whelming.

“Chan, those kids…” SpearB draws Chan’s attention to him, pointing towards a cluster of fighters. The students have surrounded one student in particular, a girl with spiky yellow hair whose entire body is crackling with electricity. It’s clear the others are trying to fight her, except for one problem: both sides look equally terrified as the girl tries to keep still. Despite her clear intentions, her quirk lashes out anyways, and even from the distance, Chan can clearly hear her apologizing for each attack.

“She’s not in control,” Chan says.

“Do you think that’s what happened then? Youngjae came and spread the serum onto a bunch of unsuspecting kids?” TMT says, his voice laced with disgust.

"Chan, I know we’re on a tight deadline,” SpearB says, his eyes still fixed on the fights unfolding in front of them, “but these kids, they need our help. I can’t leave them like that, not when I know how they must feel.”

Chan nods. It’s not often that SpearB opens up to how much he cares, and it’s true that they can’t just let the chaos spread throughout campus when there’s people in need of their help. Chan turns to J.One. “Do you think you can see who’s been infected and where?”

J.One nods. His shades take on a bluish shade as he scans the entire campus before he snaps back to attention. He points to a distance away, where a pink-haired boy’s quirk is going wild, a sticky bubblegum like substance rapidly spreading as it binds him and anyone near him to the ground. “That kid has a quirk where he can stick and unstick people with the substance his quirk is emitting. There’s an anomaly in the side of his right hand, half an inch below the base of his pinky. Tell him what you’re going to do and have him stick his wound together when he gets control of his quirk back. For the others, you’re going to need him to stick their wounds together too, at least until you can find a healer.”

J.One continues to list the rest of the students he’s noticed have lost control and methodically lists each and every one of their quirks and where he’s detected the parasite. When he’s done, SpearB nods. He’s about to head off alone when I.N. grabs him. He says, “I’ll come with you. We’ll get it done faster, and I’ll be fine since I’m all covered up, right?”

J.One nods. TMT opens his mouth like he’s about to offer to go with them, but Young Wings cuts him off. Shooting TMT a knowing look, Young Wings says, “Don’t be stupid, TMT. You’re needed to take down Sunshine, so I’ll go instead. It’ll be quicker with my quirk, and we’ll catch you guys up later.”

He grabs the sound blocking earmuffs hanging around his neck and puts them on before anyone can get in another word. Young Wings gives J.One one last encouraging pat on the shoulder before he races off towards the pink-haired boy, SpearB and I.N. leaping into action and chasing behind him.

“They’ll be fine, right?” TMT says worriedly, wringing his hands. J.One too seems tense.

“Have a little faith in them,” Lee Know says before turning to Chan. “Shall we?”

“The sooner we put an end to this, the better,” Chan nods, and the four of them head off.

* * *

Chan, Lee Know, and J.One find Youngjae waiting for them on the far end of campus, sitting in the middle of one of JYP High’s smaller gardens that remains untouched by the chaos Youngjae has unleashed on the school. He smiles when he sees them, calling out in a friendly tone, “Did you enjoy my surprise?”

“You know, I didn’t want to believe you were capable of becoming a villain,” Chan replies, “but getting innocent students involved? You’re really not the man I once thought you were anymore, are you?”

A hint of spite flicks through Youngjae’s eyes as he narrows them at Chan. He stands up slowly. “I hate to break it to you Chan, but I’m the same as I’ve always been. Clearly, you don’t know anything.”

Youngjae vanishes in a flash of light, but Chan’s ready for him. With one hefty swing, Chan slams his fist into the ground, and chunks of concrete are thrown into the air as dust clouds billow out, distorting the light around them.

“From behind!” J.One shouts. Lee Know shoots out a burst of water behind Chan just as a beam light shoots towards him. The light refracts through the water just enough to only barely graze the top of Chan’s skin before it rockets away and reforms back into Youngjae’s body a step away.

“Not bad,” Youngjae smirks, brushing some dust off his shirt. “Not bad for the Number 1 hero, but you can do better, Chan.”

“I think I’ve done what I needed to,” Chan replies cheekily. Youngjae narrows his eyes, but before he can say anything more, he realizes his surroundings suddenly look a lot greener and darker than they did a moment ago. 

He looks up.

In the heat of the moment, he hadn’t noticed that the trees all around them had started growing at an alarming rate. Forming a circle around him and the three heroes, roots and branches intertwine with each other, and the treetops grow ever taller as they try to close up the remaining gap of light that’s still flooding into the small enclosure. Youngjae catches a glimpse of TMT walking the outer perimeter of the enclosure he’s just created, his mind entirely focused on his task as he whispers orders to each tree just as the wall of trees form a solid barrier that hides the hero from view. All that’s left is a small hole shrinking rapidly at the top of the dome of trees.

“Trying to trap me in the dark?” Youngjae smirks.

He starts to glow again just as J.One shouts, “Lee Know, cover for TMT!”

Lee Know swirls his hands up into the air and a wave of water soars up over their heads, creating a water barrier between Youngjae and the shrinking hole in the sky. 

“That won’t stop me now,” Youngjae taunts as he shifts the angle at which he soars up to the ceiling, but at the last moment, with his arms still held up in the air as if they were being pulling by a taut string, Lee Know clenches his fists. He reaches deep into his mind and pulls forth the coldest memories of his life, the endless days he spent a fugitive on the run, scared of his own quirk, of his emotions that influenced it until each day blended with the next and he stopped trying to feeling anything at all. Lee Know lets the cold apathy of those days grip his heart tight and with his full strength, he swings his arms downwards.

The water freezes into ice and suddenly shatters into a million pieces. Light scatters in all different directions as Youngjae tries to pass through, and in the moment it takes for him to recollect himself, the barrier of trees successfully closes above them, trapping the four of them in complete darkness.

Youngjae clicks his tongue. He lets a faint glow cover his entire body, and the three heroes’ faces are reflected in the light back at him. Lee Know has put himself between Youngjae and J.One, protectively forming a swirling barrier of ice shards between them, leaving Youngjae to head for Chan instead. Even though Youngjae’s movements have become easier to track, since he’s the only light source within the dark enclosure, it takes all of Chan’s concentration to dodge the speed of Youngjae’s attacks.

“Aim for the moment he hits you!” J.One shouts out. 

Chan does just that. The moment he feels the heat of Youngjae’s attack graze his skin, he throws a punch with the strength of seven people into the light.

Chan hisses in pain as the light burns his skin, but at the same time, his fist catches Youngjae the moment Youngjae shifts back into his body and throws him all the way across the enclosure into the wall. Youngjae gets up unsteadily. Chan’s half-collapsed onto the ground, clutching his burnt hand, and Youngjae starts running towards him.

In the corner of his eye, Youngjae sees J.One mutter something to Lee Know. Immediately, Lee Know comes running forward, launching a spear of ice straight into Youngjae’s path. He morphs his body into light just in time to avoid colliding into it.

“Chan, 3 o’clock, 2.5 steps!” J.One calls out. 

Youngjae’s moving too fast for even himself to react. Passing through the ice causes him to go rocketing into a different direction, which just happens to be exactly where Chan’s moved in wait for him, 2 and half steps to the right of where Chan once was. Chan winds up a kick and strikes at the ground again, sending a barrage of dust and debris Youngjae’s way. Youngjae scowls as some of the debris hits him, and he glares at J.One when he stops a step away. J.One stares back, or at least it looks like it, given Youngjae can’t really see what J.One’s looking at behind the layers of covering around his head besides a barely perceptible blueness emitting from behind his shades. 

It’s almost as if he’s predicting his movements.

Realization sets in. Youngjae glares at Chan before slowly saying, “Something’s up.”

Chan raises an eyebrow even as his heart leaps to his throat. He inches ever so slightly towards J.One and counters, “What? Scared that we might actually defeat you?”

“No, if we keep this up, I admit I’ll probably lose to your teamwork, but…” Youngjae’s eyes narrow at Chan. “I believe I said I wanted to fight you, Lee Know, and J.One.”

“You are fighting us then,” Lee Know scoffs, but Chan can hear the tension in his voice.

The three heroes hold their breath as Youngjae turns his head towards J.One. His eyes narrowing further, Youngjae says, “You. Took me a moment, but you’ve been directing this entire fight. It’s almost like you’re not just able to keep track of the speed of my attacks, but you can predict my moves too. And last I checked…”

Youngjae aims a hand straight towards J.One. He scowls, “J.One doesn’t have that level of observation.”

Youngjae shoots a burst of light towards J.One. Even if he can see it coming, J.One reacts a second too late, and the light explodes in his face, knocking away his shades and burning away his mask. He stumbles backwards, clutching at his face and struggling to throw off his helmet to rip the burning mask off his face, and when J.One looks up, it’s Felix’s face looking back at them, all three of his eyes flickering with a faint blue glow.

“I thought so,” Youngjae sneers, turning on Chan. “What are you planning, Chan? Where is Han Jisung?”

“He’s exactly where we need him,” Chan replies cooly, but he can’t help but glance down at his watch. His hour is almost up, and even worse, they’d sent Jisung off to complete his part of the plan early in the morning. What if the time isn’t enough? What should he do then, if Jisung doesn’t show up in time?

And then, Chan feels Minho grip his shoulder firmly. Minho says, “We’re trusting you, Chan, so have a little faith in Jisung too.”

Clarity returns to Chan like the relief that comes from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. In an instant, he’s transported back to the days when it was just him and Minho, chatting about the heroes they wanted to be. Minho had said something like that back then too. A hero who earned people’s trust had to first know how to trust others.

Minho doesn’t seem to notice the effect he has on Chan. He’s looking at something behind Youngjae now with the faintest smile. It’s the same smile Chan once had the luxury of seeing directed towards himself, back in high school, when life was simpler, when he and Minho were still just friends too shy to admit their crushes to each other.

Minho no longer looks towards Chan with that same fondness. Chan doesn’t know when it happened, or how long it’s taken Chan to get used to Minho’s eyes looking elsewhere, but at the very least, as Chan follows Minho’s gaze, he has a good idea who it is that Minho now looks towards. It’s a thought that leaves him surprisingly content.

He’s happy that they’ve moved on from each other, that the trust between them is still strong despite it, but most of all, he’s just happy that Minho has found his own guiding light through the darkness.

Minho raises his voice and continues, “Besides, it looks like we’ve stalled for long enough.”

Youngjae frowns. “What—?”

Suddenly, a brilliant ray of light cuts through the dark enclosure. To Youngjae, it’s a sign that Chan’s plan to trap him has clearly fallen through, but as Youngjae considers taking the chance to escape, a familiar voice rings out loud and clear through the enclosure.

“Choi Youngjae! Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Youngjae freezes, a chill running down his spine at the sound of that voice. He doesn’t want to turn around, but he can’t help himself. There’s no way _that person_ could possibly be here, calling out his name, but Youngjae realizes he’s underestimated how much he’s wanted to hear that voice again, how much he’s wanted to see him again.

Youngjae whips around.

There, supported by Jisung and illuminated by the gentle afternoon sun, Im Jaebum stands before him, still with that gentle smile on his face, yet looking sadder than Youngjae’s ever seen him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Notes of Interesting Quirks**  
>  Name: “pink haired kid”  
> Status: Student  
> Quirk: Bubblegum  
> Description: He can secrete a bubblegum pink substance from his palms that lets him stick things together. He can also will it to disperse if needed. Great for fixing things or binding things together.
> 
> Name: “spiky yellow haired kid”  
> Status: Student  
> Quirk: Lightning  
> Description: Her quirk lets her emit a discharge of electricity all over her body. It acts as a protective shield and can strike out at others, though she needs support items to be able to control where it strikes.


	21. Sunrise

“Jaebum? How…?”

Youngjae’s voice cracks at the end, his words dying in his throat. The sunlight pouring in from the opening behind Jisung casts the entire enclosure in an orange glow, and Jisung can clearly see how lost Youngjae looks, his face growing pale like he’s just seen a ghost.

Jisung can’t blame him. If Jisung hadn’t been the one who literally just returned Jaebum’s memories to him, he too would’ve been eager to know just how someone suffering from amnesia for six years could’ve been healed in the span of a couple of hours.

“I believe I asked you a question first,” Jaebum replies as he takes a step forward. “Though I can understand if you don’t want to answer. I have a pretty good idea of why you’re doing all this. Can you believe it? Six years, and nothing’s changed.”

Jisung’s busy trying to stick close to Jaebum to make sure he doesn’t accidentally stumble, but it’s obvious Jaebum’s words are affecting Youngjae, who takes a wary step back and says, “You might not have changed, Jaebum, but there’s no way you’d understand—”

“Youngjae,” Jaebum cuts in, “it wasn’t your fault. Stop blaming yourself for what happened to Jackson and Jinyoung.”

Youngjae stiffens. He stammers, “How did you—”

“I remember everything now,” Jaebum replies, “thanks to Jisung here. I’ve been caught up on the situation, and while I might not know what you’re planning, I can tell you it’s not worth it, Youngjae. Not your revenge, not your self-destruction. I know these past few years have been especially hard on you, but to think you’d fall this far…”

Jaebum lets out a long sigh. He offers a hand out to Youngjae. “This is your last chance, Youngjae. It’s not too late. We can still end this peacefully, before anyone else needs to get hurt.”

Youngjae stares at Jaebum’s outstretched hand for a long time. When he looks up though, it’s Jisung he looks at, not Jaebum, and when Jisung meets Youngjae’s eyes, Jisung has the sinking feeling that Jaebum’s got one thing wrong about his friend.

It _is_ too late.

“So this was your plan?” Youngjae says, sounding strangely calm. “While your friends were here distracting me, you went and healed Jaebum, thinking it would make me give up?”

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Jisung replies honestly, steeling himself in case Youngjae ends up attacking them again. “Obviously you care about your friends, so I thought if I could help heal both of them, you’d be more willing to come quietly. I guess that’s not an option then?”

Youngjae scowls at Jisung, but his expression quickly shifts to one of confusion. He says slowly, “Wait, both of them? You don’t mean… Mark…?”

Jisung nods. “He’s not awake yet, but the doctors said if I can go back and help them, he should be able to wake up soon as well.”

For a few moments, Youngjae looks dumbfounded as he processes the information. Suddenly, he cracks a helpless smile. “What the hell, Han Jisung? Are you a miracle worker?”

“It’s just my quirk,” Jisung mutters, but Youngjae doesn’t hear him. Instead, he turns around towards Chan and says, “You’re wasting his talent by having him work as a hero for you, you know that?”

Chan’s expression grows steely as Jisung bites down on his bottom lip. He’s perfectly aware that Chan knows that. After all, despite graduating top of his hero class, it’d taken over a week of persuading with Changbin’s help to convince Chan that the best use of Jisung’s talents were at 3RACHA working as a hero and not spent toiling away in medical school. Jisung knows Chan trusts him. He’d proved that being a hero was his calling to Chan, but hearing a villain so blatantly imply Jisung’s better off being a doctor still stings.

Chan is quick to send Jisung a reassuring glance, but before he can counter Youngjae, it’s Minho who speaks up. “Say what you want, Sunshine. There’s plenty of doctors and healing quirks that someone would’ve eventually created the miracle you wanted. Doesn’t change the fact that your friends are healed now because J.One is fighting you here as a hero. How he chooses to use his talents isn’t up to a villain like you. There’s people who have been saved only because J.One is the hero he is, people like your friends and people like me, so I’ll say this as many times as people like you need to hear it. I’m sure glad that J.One’s a hero.”

Jisung has to duck his head down a bit to hide the incredibly cheesy grin that’s been spreading across his face as he listens to Minho speak. In an attempt to hide how happy he is to hear those words, Jisung shouts, “Yah, Lee Know! If you keep showering with praises like that, I’m gonna have you work for me forever!”

“No thanks!” Minho shouts back, but when Jisung looks up, Minho is staring at him with an incredibly fond smile dangling on his lips.

The atmosphere is immediately broken, however, when Youngjae’s cold tone rings out.

“Ah, that’s right. J.One’s the one responsible for taking down Levanter. You’re right then, Lee Know. There is merit to him being a hero. Our plan never would’ve been set in motion if J.One hadn’t defeated you, Lee Minho, so I suppose we have you to thank, J.One, for creating the perfect stage for my plan.”

Jisung feels a chill run down his spine. The look in Youngjae’s eyes seems to be something beyond just anger as he stares at Minho. Jisung realizes that everything Youngjae’s done so far, it’s more than just wanting revenge for GOT7, or revenge against society. Even when they’d fought Chaeryeong, she’d called it a test, exposed her identity just to fight Jisung and Minho without doing much except talk about why she didn’t like heroes.

Jisung had thought Wonderland was targeting them for the sake of disrupting society. Chan had told the public that J.One and Lee Know were the heroes he was trusting to maintain the peace after Levanter was captured, so by defeating them, Wonderland would undermine Chan’s authority as the number one hero that everyone looks up to. Now he can tell that’s not true.

Whatever it is Wonderland might want, there’s one thing Jisung knows for sure: they want to see Lee Minho fall out of pure spite.

“Just what made you have such a deep grudge against Minho?” Jisung blurts out.

Youngjae chuckles. “I don’t, but I can’t say the same for my boss. He got so easily manipulated into helping cause Levanter’s downfall the first time after all.”

The silence is suffocating. Even from a distance, Jisung feels like he can sense the waves of anger curling off Minho’s body. Chan, who’s standing near Minho, has to physically put a hand on his shoulder to keep Minho from attacking Youngjae right there.

Before the situation can escalate though, Jaebum clears his throat loudly, breaking through the silence. “Youngjae, let me ask you one question then. You’re aware of what Sweet Chaos made you do to Jackson and Jinyoung, right? And despite that you’re still working for him?”

Jisung frowns at Jaebum’s words. He hasn’t had the chance to ask Jaebum what kind of memories he had regained, but from his words, it’s almost as if he’s implying Sweet Chaos had something to do with what had happened between GOT7 and BTS.

Youngjae doesn’t meet Jaebum’s eyes. Quietly, he admits, “Yes.”

“So you’ve forgiven him?”

“No,” Youngjae curtly replies, “but…”

“But you’ve come to see him as a friend,” Jaebum finishes. Youngjae refuses to lift his eyes from the ground, as if he were ashamed or afraid to see how Jaebum would react.

The last thing Jisung expects is for Jaebum to smile as if that’s the best thing he’s heard all day. Even Youngjae looks confused by Jaebum’s reaction, which prompts him to ask, “What’s so funny?”

“You really haven’t changed at all,” Jaebum replies with a fond look in his eyes. “I’m glad, Youngjae. You’ve made a new friend you want to protect, right? Then, as your former leader and your friend, all I can do is respect your decision. I’ll lecture you on how stupid you’re being once this is over, but for now, let’s get this over with. How about it, Youngjae? A fair fight between you and me, just like the old days.”

Youngjae looks stunned by how cheerful Jaebum is acting, and honestly, Jisung feels the same. It isn’t long however, before Youngjae lets out a snort of laughter. “I’d hardly call that fair. I don’t think I’ve even won an unfair fight against you before.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jaebum cheerfully taunts. “You’ve gotten what, six years to train? Besides, Youngjae, you’ve always been a master planner. A plan you came up with wouldn’t possibly fail just because you got defeated, so what do you have to lose?”

Youngjae contemplates Jaebum’s words with a calm smile on his face. “Well, there’s one thing that could go wrong…”

Youngjae trails off as his eyes turn towards Jisung, who tenses up involuntarily. There’s an appraising look in Youngjae’s eyes that’s making his body instinctively dread what Youngjae will say next.

Youngjae runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head, muttering, “Han Jisung, you’re lucky you’ve got a brother who cares so much about you.”

Jisung’s heart drops to his feet. His body staggers forward out of his control. “What did you say—?”

Youngjae’s body explodes into a beam of light that shoots straight for Jisung. Jaebum immediately wrenches Jisung backwards and throws his hands forwards. A glowing greenish screen materializes in front of Jaebum instantaneously. Jisung watches in awe as the light slams into the screen and gets bounced back in a different direction, but before he can properly marvel at the clash of lights breaking out in front of him, Jisung tries to steady himself from being pushed backwards.

His legs suddenly give out from beneath him. His head spinning, Jisung plops down onto the floor. He hadn’t realized just how much energy he’s spent today trying to heal two people within the span of a few hours.

He faintly registers the presence of someone rushing to his side, but as white noise continues to fill Jisung’s ears, one thought alone manages to remain before he falls unconscious.

_My brother… Younghyun… he knows who I am._

* * *

When Jisung comes to, the first thing he sees is a jar of light. He sits up, startled, only to find that Jaebum is by his bedside, smiling warmly at him.

“Where’s everyone?” Jisung asks.

“They’re having a meeting, talking about what to do with what happened at the school,” Jaebum replies. “How are you feeling? I’m sorry you must’ve really overexerted yourself because of me today.”

“I’m fine. I’m should be the one who’s sorry. I only healed you so you would fight your friend,” Jisung replies.

Jaebum waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad it was me than someone else. Even if he’s like that, at least I’m still kinda spending time with him.”

Jisung realizes he’s talking about the jar of light on his bedside table. He scrunches his eyes up. “Is that Youngjae?”

“He gets like that when he overexerts himself. It’ll be a while before he can recover, but in the meantime he’s harmless. Obviously, I’d love to get the chance to talk with him properly before we have to hand him over to the police, but it is what it is.”

Jisung studies the nonchalant way Jaebum says that and asks, “You’re surprisingly calm for someone who just had to defeat a friend.”

“Ah, does it seem like that?” Jaebum laughs. “Maybe part of it is just still being stunned that I’m back to myself, but I suppose you’re right. I obviously don’t agree with the path Youngjae ended up on, so as his former leader, I’d like to apologize, but as his friend, I can’t say I blame him.”

Before he can say anything further, there’s a knock on the door, and Chan pokes his head into the room. He immediately brightens up when he sees Jisung. “You’re awake!”

Chan rushes over and pulls Jisung into a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You really scared us when you fainted back there.”

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Jisung says. It’s not often he gets them, but Jisung enjoys the warmth of Chan’s hugs. Distracted by Chan, Jisung almost doesn’t notice Changbin and Minho follow Chan into the room until Changbin’s got Jisung smothered in a hug as well. 

As Jisung half-heartedly tries to get out of Changbin’s arms by calling out to Minho, who seems satisfied to just watch them, Chan ruffles his hair affectionately before turning to Jaebum. “Thank you again for helping us today.”

“I’m just happy to be able to help,” Jaebum replies. “How’d your meeting go?”

“Ah, that’s actually why I’m here,” Chan says, his expression darkening slightly. “I know this might be tough, but I would like you tell me what happened today. From how Jisung was able to get your memories back, and what exactly happened six years ago.”

Jisung and Jaebum share a glance before Jisung says, “When I went to check on Jaebum, I realized that his memories weren’t so much as disappearing as they were being taken away. I was surprised at first, but then, I remembered what you told me about Mark’s quirk, Chan. He had the ability to take away people’s memories, right?”

Chan’s eyes narrow as he looks over at Jaebum, who nods.

“Yes, Mark’s quirk is called Memory Palace. He can take, store and look through parts of people’s memories before giving them back. As Jisung guessed correctly, it turns out that right before we both fell unconscious, Mark had used his quirk on me, but because he fell into a coma before he could deactivate his quirk, he inadvertently ended up taking away my memories throughout the years until Jisung was able to heal him to the point where he could at least stop his quirk and give me my memories back.”

“I see…” Chan says. “But why would Mark use his quirk on you in the first place?”

Jaebum smiles bitterly. “That has to do with what happened. I’m sure you’re aware of the quirk of RM, BTS’s leader?”

Jisung looks to Chan for answers. Chan explains, “RM’s quirk allowed him to convert people’s emotions into energy. Positive emotions could heal, and negative ones could destroy.”

Jaebum nods. “At the end of the fight, RM had tried using his quirk on me. If he’d succeeded, he probably would’ve destroyed my mind, considering I’d just watched most of my friends die. By taking away my memories, Mark was able to at least prevent me from feeling anything at that moment.”

“So BTS really…” Jisung looks over at Minho, who doesn’t seem to notice that Jisung’s overheard what he muttered to himself. Meanwhile, Chan asks, “How does Sweet Chaos factor into this then? You mentioned that he’d made Youngjae do something?”

“Ahh...” Jaebum’s expression falls. “Well, you could say he has everything to do with it.”

Everyone frowns at Jaebum in confusion. Jaebum sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I should probably start from the beginning. You see, that day, you might not believe it, but we actually defeated BTS. RM was the only one we didn’t completely knock out, but when we explained we just wanted to take them in for a talk, he gave up pretty easily, so I guess that’s why we all had our guard down.”

“Wait,” Chan interrupts, “you weren’t going to turn them in? But they were—”

“The most wanted villain group, but also in every sense the most looked up to heroes as well,” Jaebum firmly replies. “I know you explained to me what they ended up doing, but Chan, I’m sure even you can’t deny how popular they used to be. Sure, their methods were sometimes extreme, but there’s no doubt at the time, they were the best at dealing with villains. We’d already defeated them, so I thought it was a good chance to see what the people behind the city’s most admired vigilante group was really like. If it’d gone well, I’m sure we might’ve even been able to come to an understanding and really take our work as heroes to the next level.”

A heavy silence falls around the room. Minho, whose expression has been increasingly unreadable throughout the conversations, quietly says, “But that’s not what happened.”

“Sadly, no.” Jaebum heaves a heavy sigh. “While we were busy talking to RM, Yugeom noticed something off with Jungkook, one of the unconscious members. Before anyone could react, Jungkook’s quirk suddenly activated. It tried to attack his own members, but Yugeom and BamBam protected them…”

Jaebum hangs his head. “If I’d reacted just a little faster, I could’ve saved them…”

Chan doesn’t say a word. He looks like he’s struggling to process this information. It must be hard, Jisung realizes, for Chan to grapple with the reality that his friends had died protecting the people he’d thought had killed his friends.

“What happened after that?” Changbin asks. He’s the only one who’s remained calm the entire time while recording Jaebum’s words.

“We had our hands full trying to get Jungkook under control. Even after he regained consciousness, it was clear he’d completely lost control of his quirk, just like the kids we saw at JYP High today. That’s when Sweet Chaos showed up. He got ahold of Youngjae and made him attack us. I tried stopping it, but at that point, I was already too weak, and Jinyoung and Jackson ended up taking the brunt of Youngjae’s attack.”

“What do you mean by he made Youngjae attack you?” Changbin asks.

Jaebum looks up in surprise. “Oh, I thought you knew. Sweet Chao’s quirk is called Quirk Takeover. It lets him control other people’s quirks when he comes into contact with them.”

Changbin and Minho immediately look towards Chan, whose grim expression is enough to confirm that what Jaebum’s saying is true. Jaebum continues, “After that, my memory’s hazy, but I’m guessing the Kang Mafia used what happened to threaten BTS into follow their orders, especially because one of their members had lost control. In the end, I guess the leaders behind BTS were still just human. They chose to protect each other over their dream, and their light got swallowed by an evil we all underestimated.”

No one speaks for a long time. The story Jaebum had just told feels like a heavy burden on Jisung’s shoulders, a weight that threatens to crush him. To think the Kang Mafia had gone to such extents to continue their crimes…

“Anyways, that’s probably why Youngjae gave up being a hero,” Jaebum says, breaking the silence. “He probably still blames himself for causing two of his friends to die.”

“But… why would he end up working with Sweet Chaos then?” Chan questions. “Isn’t he the one to blame for everything that happened?”

“Yes, that’s why I asked Youngjae about that earlier,” Jaebum replies. “Judging by his personality, I wouldn’t be surprised if Youngjae had wanted revenge at first, but, at some point, whether it was before or after they met, it’s likely Youngjae ended up learning something about Sweet Chaos that ultimately may have led to them working together. He’s always been careful about choosing who to put his trust in, so for him to consider Sweet Chaos a friend, there must be something important about the man that we’re not yet aware of.”

Jisung’s thoughts suddenly feel like they’re too loud. Something important about Sweet Chaos that no one knows, that could’ve changed someone’s mind about the horrible things he’s done. There is something that Jisung can think of, but if he says it, he’d expose something he’s tried so hard to keep a secret. Was it really worth it?

“Still, whatever it is, I feel sorry for what happened to BTS,” Jaebum says, his voice cutting through Jisung’s thoughts. “If one of us had been able to explain what had happened before it all got out of hand, I know we would’ve been able to stop them before they went too far.”

“It’s not your fault,” Chan replies. “They were the ones who left you all in such a horrible state.”

“Still, perhaps it’s because I can’t quite wrap my head around this new era of heroes, but… I was sad to hear about what they’d become. It’s obvious that at some point, even the people who once believed in their cause gave into the fear of being associated with them rather than try and stand up for those ideals and question why BTS suddenly ended up acting so strangely,” Jaebum sighs, picking up the jar of light from the table. The faint sound of police sirens can be heard through the only window in the room. “You can call me naive, but for that same reason, I’m not going to give up on Youngjae yet, even after all the things he’s done. If it gets out that I’m protecting a villain, then so be it. At least I’ll know his true intentions before trying to judge the actions he took. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think the police are here, so I hope you don’t mind me being the one to hand my friend over to the authorities.”

With that, Jaebum leaves, the jar of light grasped tightly in his hands, but his words remain with Jisung. He can’t help but wonder if Jaebum was right. If enough people had believed that BTS wasn’t capable of such villainy, would someone have eventually been able to come to the conclusion that they’d completely fallen under the Kang Mafia’s control? Would the heroes have been able to defeat the Kang Mafia before things had gone too far?

Could Jisung be just like the people all those years ago, so scared of being associated with a villain that he couldn’t even protect the things he believed in?

Jisung makes up his mind right there. He breaks the silence with a deep breath and says, “Guys, I think there’s something I need to tell you.”

The serious tone in his voice must have been clear, because Chan quickly settles down and sits next to Jisung on the bed, while Minho and Changbin pull up chairs. Chan asks, “What’s wrong?”

“I might be wrong, but I think I know why Youngjae might’ve changed his mind about Sweet Chaos,” Jisung says. “It has to do with Kang Sungho’s quirk.”

“The leader of the Kang Mafia? No one managed to figure out what his quirk was though,” Chan replies before his eyes narrow. “Wait, how did you know his real name?”

“His quirk is something like mind control,” Jisung continues, ignoring Chan’s question. If he doesn’t get to the point now, he knows never will. “I don’t know how far he might’ve developed it, but from what I know, he could change people’s thoughts for hours and make them do whatever he told them to. The people he controlled wouldn’t realize they were being controlled at the time, but once the effects of his quirk faded away, they’d go back to normal while still remembering everything.”

“So you’re suggesting he had Sweet Chaos under his control, and that whatever crimes Sweet Chaos may have committed weren’t out of his own will?” Changbin says.

Jisung nods. “It’s just a guess, but it would explain why Youngjae might’ve given Younghyun a second chance.”

“You have a point, but then why would Sweet Chaos suddenly start being a villain now?” Chan says. “He managed to escape and disappear years ago, so he could’ve just lived the rest of his life in peace if he wanted to.”

“I don’t know, but whatever the reason, I want to stop him before it’s too late.”

Chan nods, but his eyes are still surveying Jisung as he contemplates what to say next. Finally, Jisung continues, “There’s something else I need to tell you. I know you’re wondering why I know these things, and, well… it’s because Younghyun’s my brother, which also makes me Kang Sungho’s son.”

“But your last name…” Changbin trails off.

“I took my mom’s after she divorced my father,” Jisung explains. “They separated when I was still just a kid, and my father ended up taking my brother with him to Seoul. We didn’t hear about them until the news that Sweet Chaos had escaped came out, and that’s mostly why I ended up coming to the city. At the very least, my mom and I wanted to find my brother and see for ourselves whether he was really the monster they’d described in the papers, or if he’d been suffering under my father’s control the entire time. I admit, that’s part of why I wanted to join 3RACHA. I really admired you, Chan, for helping take down my father, but also I thought I might find leads if I worked here. I didn’t find anything though, so I was practically ready to give up until this whole thing with Wonderland started.

“I didn’t mean to hide all this from you guys, but I… I was scared. I thought if people found out about my connection to the Kang Mafia, I wouldn’t even be accepted as a hero,” Jisung quietly admits, “but what Jaebum just said made me realize that maybe I’m thinking about this the wrong way. If I let that fear get in the way of my work as a hero, then one day, I’m going to mess up and let that fear define my actions instead of the things I believe in. I don’t want to be someone like that, so that’s why I’m telling you guys now. You all have always trusted me so much, especially with today’s plan, so it’s about time I let myself trust you too.”

Jisung doesn’t realize how badly he’s been shaking until Chan’s warm hands cover his. Chan smiles and says, “Thank you, Jisung, for trusting us.”

“You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be? Sure, I wish you could’ve told us earlier, but that’s just because I wish you hadn’t needed to carry such a heavy burden by yourself this entire time. You can’t choose who you’re related to, but you can choose what you believe in and what you want to do with your life, and that’s what’s important.”

Jisung’s practically ready to launch himself into Chan’s arms at this point, but Changbin’s quicker. Before Jisung can even react, he finds himself crushed between Changbin’s powerful arms as his friend squeezes him with a suffocatingly warm hug. “Geez, I almost want to be mad at you for thinking we would hate you for something like that. You know we’ll always love you no matter what, right?”

“Changbin’s being cheesy today,” Chan laughs as Jisung lets himself relax into Changbin’s arms, if only to hide how incredibly happy he is to hear Changbin say that. The moment is broken, however, when Changbin finally lets go and Jisung looks up to see that Minho alone remains awkwardly distant. It’s not like Jisung’s expecting him to slather with him affection like he’s come to expect from Chan and Changbin, but somehow, a part of him had hoped Minho would at least reassure him that everything would be okay.

Minho finally seems to realize that everyone’s looking at him. Jisung tries not to feel disappointed when a forced smile appears on Minho’s face as he says, “I really admire you Jisung. I know it must have taken a lot of courage to admit a secret like that.”

“Minho—”

“I’m going to go check on Jaebum. Someone’s got to make sure he actually hands over Sunshine,” Minho hastily adds. He doesn’t meet Jisung’s eyes, and before anyone can get a word in, he slips out the door like the wind.

Changbin looks absolutely livid. “That bastard, after everything we’ve been through, he—!”

“It’s fine,” Jisung interrupts, staring at the closed door that Minho’s vanished behind. Trying desperately to ignore the stabbing pain in his heart, as if he might just convince himself otherwise, Jisung repeats again, “Yeah, it’s fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hero Notes**  
>  Name: Im Jaebum  
> Hero Name: JB  
> Agency: GOT7  
> Blood Type: A  
> Quirk: Reflect  
> Description: He has the ability to create reflective surfaces that can bounce back any kind of projectile or attack. He can create up to seven different screens at once, but they can break if he overuses them without resting.
> 
> Name: Mark Tuan  
> Hero Name: Mark  
> Agency: GOT7  
> Blood Type: A  
> Quirk: Memory Palace  
> Description: His quirk gives him the ability to take memories from people with a touch and store them within his mind. He can give back the memories with a touch, or if the target hears someone say his name. He also has the ability to sift through the memories he’s taken, though the drawback is that he has to be unconscious while doing so.


	22. Trust

News about the attack on JYP High is all the city can talk about for the next week. Word quickly spreads about how Wonderland had infected some of the students with a mysterious drug that had made them lose control of their quirk, and as rumors about how the students had gotten infected spread, panic slowly starts to settle in on the public.

Meanwhile, despite all the emphasis that’d been placed on J.One and Lee Know during the week, it’s SpearB, I.N., and Young Wings who end up in the spotlight after the attack on JYP High.

They’d been in the heat of the battle, calming students down, battling those who’d lost control of their quirks, and then extracting the parasite as Felix had instructed them to, so it’s no surprise that the three heroes quickly become extremely well liked by the students at JYP High, who likely then shared their enthusiasm with friends and family until all three heroes quickly begin to rise up in the hero rankings.

Seungmin alone manages to weasel himself out of multiple interviews and attempts to make him a more familiar hero to the public. It leaves the public eye on Changbin and Jeongin, who end up in interview after interview throughout the week, all asking about the amazing teamwork they displayed during the fight.

Their interviews provide Jisung with all the entertainment and distraction he needs for the week. Changbin and Jeongin are an odd sight together, especially due to their contrasting hero personas, but what makes things funnier is the fact that the heroes “SpearB” and “I.N.” have a completely different dynamic from the people behind the mask. With each interview, Changbin struggles more and more to keep up his dark persona, and Jisung doubts it’ll be long before Changbin finally cracks and starts doting and acting sweet towards Jeongin like he usually does.

The reason Jisung has so much time on his hands to be watching his friends get interviewed is because for the entire week, he’s been stuck at the agency, handling paperwork.

True to his promise, he’s been going to the hospital every day to help heal Mark, which means using his quirk for extremely delicate work that Jisung’s not normally used to. Despite his many assurances that he’s fine, Chan refuses to let him go out in the field and do any hero work until his task with healing Mark is done. Felix had told Jisung all about how everyone had panicked when they saw him faint during the fight against Youngjae, and Jisung understands Chan just wants to make sure he doesn’t overwork himself again. It’s frustrating to get stuck in the office all day, but at the very least, it’s given him a valid reason to avoid Minho for most of the day.

No matter how he looks at it, his relationship with Minho has changed since after they defeated Youngjae, or rather, since Jisung had revealed that Sweet Chaos was his brother.

Despite his initially awkward reaction to the news, Minho had been quick to apologize. For the most part, he doesn’t act much differently towards Jisung, but Jisung can tell. It’s like Minho’s built up some kind of invisible wall between them. Even their usual interactions feel hollow, as if behind each smile and laugh, there’s something heavy weighing Minho down and keeping him just out of Jisung’s reach.

Jisung doesn’t know why that bothers him so much. He knows Minho’s not the kind of person to think differently of him, just because he’s a villain’s son, but the fact that he doesn’t know what exactly is bothering Minho somehow makes him feel worse.

Normally, Jisung would let it be. He’s the kind of person to give his friends space and trust them to confide in him when they’re ready, but when it comes to Minho, the whole thing just makes Jisung anxious. He doesn’t know why it bothers him so much to not know what’s got Minho acting the way he is, and by Friday, Jisung’s almost ready to give up and accept that the awkward barrier between him and Minho might be stuck there forever.

Luckily for him, Jisung has plenty of things to distract him from his confusing feelings, one of which is Hyunjin’s visits.

Throughout the week, Hyunjin has been stopping by the agency every time Changbin and Jeongin are live on TV together, even though Jisung knows for a fact that Dawn has a much fancier TV that Felix had bought for gaming purposes during the slow days at work. Normally, Jisung might complain, but he’s grateful for Hyunjin’s visits. Jisung had ended up deciding to tell the rest of his friends his secret too, and while he feels comforted by the fact that they had all accepted the news rather easily, Jisung knows Hyunjin has been coming to visit as a way to reassure him that he really is loved and supported by his friends. It’s a comforting feeling Jisung hadn’t realized he’d needed, and by the end of the week, as they settle on the couch to watch another of Changbin and Jeongin’s interviews, Jisung finally blurts out everything currently bothering him to Hyunjin.

“I think you just need to give him some time,” Hyunjin says when Jisung finally admits his worries.

“I know, but still. I don’t know why it bothers me so much,” Jisung grumbles. “Like, if it were you, I’d just be like whatever, you know. I wouldn’t really care how long it’d take for you to open up to me again.”

“Ouch, that hurts.” Hyunjin dramatically mimes fainting as he collapses onto Jisung’s side. “I thought we were friends.”

“You know what I mean,” Jisung huffs, slapping Hyunjin lightly on the shoulder. “I’m saying with you, or Felix, or Seungmin, I’d be fine giving you the space you need. Like I wouldn’t worry because I’d trust you guys to come talk to me if that’s what you needed, but with Minho, I just… I don’t know.”

“You’re scared he’s not going to open up to you again,” Hyunjin sums up matter of factly.

Jisung pauses before pursing his lips. “Huh. That actually makes sense.”

Hyunjin rolls his eyes as he makes himself comfortable leaning against Jisung’s body as he turns on the TV. “Of course it does. You like him, so you’re going to be worried when it suddenly feels like he’s pushing himself away from you. I’m surprised you didn’t realize earlier.”

“Hmm,” Jisung ponders Hyunjin’s words before suddenly sitting up straight and snapping his head towards Hyunjin. “Wait, what do you mean I like him?”

Hyunjin scrunches up his eyes. “You don’t?”

“I—I mean, if you meant as friends, then of course I do,” Jisung hastily says. “But it’s not like I would have a crush on him or something, right? We’ve literally only known each other for a month or so.”

“What’s that got to do with liking someone?” Hyunjin shoots back. “It only took a week for me to develop the biggest crush on Minho after we first met, so time’s got nothing to do with it.”

“You had a crush on Minho?” Jisung asks incredulously.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes. “It was way before I even knew you, and that’s besides the point. Time has nothing to do with the fact that you and Minho get along well, and the fact that you’re so concerned about wanting to know what he thinks when normally you wouldn’t care means that he’s someone special to you.”

Jisung wants to retort, but he can’t find the words to do so. Instead, he just sinks into a thoughtful silence as he mulls over Hyunjin’s words. Does he like Minho? As more than just a friend?

The more he thinks about it, the more his brain feels like it’s shutting down. Ever since moving to Seoul, his mind’s almost entirely been focused on finding his brother and learning if he really was the monster that the news had described him as. Any thoughts about relationships and love had taken a backseat in his mind. Sure, he enjoys Minho’s company, and he’s spent most of the week wishing he had the guts to confront Minho and ask what exactly did Minho now think of him, but that doesn’t mean he “likes” Minho…

Does it?

Hyunjin pats Jisung on the shoulder, bringing him back to the present. With a wry smile, Hyunjin says, “Never mind. Whatever you feel for Minho, you’ll figure it out when the time comes, so don’t worry about it in the meantime. I shouldn’t have made any assumptions anyways, especially since I barely understand how relationships work myself.”

Jisung sighs. He supposes Hyunjin’s right. There’s no point in thinking about it for now, especially when he’s not even sure what’s going on with his relationship with Minho at this point.

However, even after they turn their attention back towards the TV program, Hyunjin’s words still linger in Jisung’s mind. He’s still thinking about it even after Chan and Minho come back from patrol, to the point where he can’t even glance at Minho without wondering if Hyunjin’s right. His friend has always been much more in tune with his emotions than Jisung has, and the more Jisung thinks about it, the more he does recall the many times when he’s been dazzled by Minho’s looks and simply enjoyed Minho’s presence. But Minho being good-looking is just an objective fact; it’s not something that might involve feelings, and the fact that he’s been enjoying Minho’s company lately is probably just because they work and live near each other, and thus are more likely to hang out with each other than Jisung would with his best friends who all work in a different part of the city. It doesn’t exactly explain why Jisung had so eagerly hung out with Minho every day after work leading up to their fight with Youngjae, but it’s not like they’re hanging out nowadays with the weird tension between them, so of course it’d be normal for Jisung to worry about their relationship as a friend… right?

Jisung watches as Minho sits himself down on the opposite end of the couch from where Hyunjin is still sitting. Hyunjin hasn’t tried to forcefully talk to Minho about whatever it is that he’d wanted to say, but while the two have gone out on multiple occasions together as friends, Jisung can tell there’s still an awkward distance between the two of them. Even now, they sit in silence watching the TV together as Changbin and Jeongin finish up their interview, both looking focused on listening to what they have to say while simultaneously not seeming to be paying attention at all.

“Is everything okay, Jisung?”

Jisung startles from his thoughts. Chan is staring at him out of concern from where he’s sitting beside Jisung. He’d been checking over the work Jisung had done during the day.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jisung hastily says. When Chan raises an eyebrow, Jisung huffs, “What?”

“Nothing, you were just, kinda glaring at Minho again,” Chan says, lowering his voice. “Did he do something to upset you again? I know he apologized, but you don’t have to act like that means everything between you two is back to normal.”

“It’s not about him, I promise,” Jisung insists, hoping he doesn’t sound too panicked. Chan gives him a look that tells him he’s seen through Jisung’s lie, but thankfully, he doesn’t pry.

Instead, Chan says in a barely audible voice, “Well, just know that Minho and I may be old friends, but you’re my favorite person here, so just give the word, and I’ll chew him out for you.”

“Thanks,” Jisung says, offering Chan a sincere smile before he puts a finger thoughtfully to his lips. “Your favorite person here, huh. I’m gonna tell Changbin.”

Chan’s eyes bug out comically as he traps Jisung in his long arms with a grin on his face. It’s the perfect reaction that makes Jisung laugh and forget about his worries. It’s always fun to tease Chan a bit, especially about his insistence that he doesn’t play favorites, even if it’s at the threat of being tickled to death. Luckily, before Chan can tickle him into submission, the door flies open and in walks Felix closely followed by Seungmin.

“Oh, hey guys! What brings you here today?” Chan cheerfully says, waving at the couple.

“Well, we heard Hyunjin was already here, so we thought this was the perfect chance to come by and ask if you guys wanted to grab a meal together after work,” Felix says.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Chan replies with a wide grin. “I’ll message Changbin now, but we can head out once he and Jeongin arrive then.”

In the meantime, Jisung realizes that Seungmin’s carrying a cardboard that looks suspiciously heavy as he heads towards Jisung’s desk and plops it down with a thud.

“What’s that?” Jisung asks, standing up to better peer down at the box as Seungmin fumbles a bit, trying to open it.

Seungmin simply smiles back. “We brought you a gift, since we’re disturbing your work.”

Seungmin opens the box, and Jisung’s mouth immediately begins to water at the sight of all the strawberries that’s been carefully packed inside.

“My parents dropped by and brought us this,” Seungmin explains, handing a fresh basket of strawberries to Chan, who quickly waddles off to share them with Minho and Hyunjin by the couch. “I guess it was their way of congratulating me for getting just a bit famous from last week, and they wanted us to share it with our friends, but especially you, Jisung.”

“Why me?” Jisung frowns, even as he graciously accepts another small basket from Seungmin.

Seungmin shoots him a look. “Come on, Jisung. You’re like half the reason why my quirk hasn’t destroyed my body yet, and my parents still love bringing up how much they loved having you over back when we were in high school. Granted, they loved having Felix and Hyunjin over too, but somehow you’re the one friend of mine they love doting on.”

Jisung doesn’t really know how to reply, so he just plops a strawberry into his mouth and chews on the thought.

He can’t say he knows Seungmin’s parents well, just that they seemed to be rather serious yet caring people who had warmly welcomed Jisung into their home during the few times Jisung had visited during high school. He hadn’t realized he’d left that much of an impression on them, though he does remember their reaction when he’d talked about how he normally stayed in the dorms during school breaks. His friends had always readily bought his excuses about his home being too far from Seoul and the trip being too expensive, but Jisung specifically remembers how Seungmin’s parents had shared a look before turning a softened gaze towards Jisung.

Even now, he wonders if it was a parental instinct, or if their former work as heroes had made them incredibly sensitive to even the slightest hint of emotion in Jisung’s voice, but Jisung has a feeling that’s why Seungmin might think they’ve been doting on him, because unlike his friends, his parents had known that it wasn’t that Jisung couldn’t go home, but that he didn’t have a home to go back to in the first place.

While Jisung is busy lost in his thoughts, he somehow registers the sound of Hyunjin’s voice say, “While we wait for them, Minho, do you mind if I talk to you for a moment? About the dance thing?”

Jisung looks up towards Minho instinctively, only to find the person in question glancing towards him too. For a moment, it’s like any tension between the two falls away. All Jisung sees is a friend looking towards him for help, and Jisung would never forgive himself if he didn’t help a friend in need.

Jisung opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, Seungmin plops a strawberry into his mouth and shuts him up.

“Seugghnmmmn!” Jisung gargles as he struggles to chew and speak at the same time. When he’s finally able to swallow, he starts again, “Seungmin, what are you—?”

Seungmin shoves another strawberry into his mouth and says in the most suspiciously innocent tone, “Come on, Jisung, aren’t you going to appreciate the gift we brought?”

Jisung shoots Seungmin a stink eye. He knows what Seungmin’s doing; Seungmin is Hyunjin’s best friend after all, and clearly he thinks if he can distract Jisung long enough, Minho won’t have any choice but to talk to Hyunjin. Jisung rises from his seat, grabbing a strawberry as he slowly growls, “Seungmin, if you don’t stop right now…”

“Jisung, it’s fine.”

Jisung freezes in the middle of brandishing a strawberry threateningly at Seungmin. He looks towards Minho, struggling to process the sense of calm he gets from Minho’s voice as the person in question turns to Hyunjin. “I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you, but I think I’m finally ready to have a talk with you now.”

Even Hyunjin looks surprised by how readily Minho has agreed to his request. He falters over his words a bit as he admits, “Oh, I was expecting more of a fight.”

“Can’t run away from this conversation forever,” Minho laughs, “and besides…”

Minho casts Jisung a glance, and Jisung frowns back, his eyes scrunching together slightly.

There’s a clarity to Minho’s gaze that Jisung hasn’t seen all week, a glimpse behind the walls that have come up between them, before Minho turns away and leads the way out of the room, leaving behind the words, “It’s about time I stop running from myself too.”

When the door closes shut behind Minho and Hyunjin, Jisung flops back into his seat, staring blankly after them. Numbly, he eats the strawberry in his hand, and the sweet, vibrant flavors slowly bring him back to focus. He notices that Seungmin’s staring at him with a concerned look in his eyes and raises an eyebrow. “You got something to say?”

“Look, I know you’re just looking out for Minho, but it’s been over a month now. From what I’ve seen, Hyunjin’s been really concerned about whatever he’s trying to tell Minho for a while now, so if we’re going to keep working together smoothly as a team, the least you can do is let him get the closure he needs,” Seungmin huffs before offering another strawberry to Jisung. “I didn’t mean this to become something like a fight though, so I’m sorry.”

Jisung snatches Seungmin’s peace offering from his hands and plops it in his mouth. A smile creeps onto his face despite himself as he replies, “Apology accepted. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am being too overprotective.”

“About that…” Seungmin sits down on Jisung’s desk, his eyes trained on Jisung’s face. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but what’s going on between you and Minho?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, whatever just happened.” Seungmin gestures to the empty space where Minho was once sitting. “Have you been fighting or something?”

“It’s not really a fight,” Jisung mutters under his breath, quietly enough so Chan doesn’t hear him. “It’s just been… awkward, ever since I told you guys about my brother.”

Seungmin purses his lips. “Want me to go beat him up for you?”

“No!” Jisung groans. “It’s not like whatever you’re thinking.”

“If you say so,” Seungmin shrugs. A comfortable silence settles between the two of them, as the chattering of voices from the TV fades into the background. Quietly, Jisung finds himself asking, “Not that this has anything to do with the situation, but you and Felix, have you guys ever had moments where you were felt like the other was hiding something important from you?”

Jisung’s not sure why he’s asking Seungmin all this, but then again, Seungmin has always had this kind of effect on people that made it easy for them to open up and talk about their feelings. Despite technically being the youngest, Seungmin’s always been the one Jisung, Hyunjin, and Felix have been able to rely on for emotional support.

Even now, Seungmin’s eyes crinkle in understanding. He doesn’t pry, simply answers, “Of course. I mean, Felix’s quirk lets him learn all sorts of things about the world, and his job is mostly focused on information gathering, so he’s technically always hiding information from me.”

“But did it ever worry you?”

“When it has to do with his job? No, but sometimes, he learns things he realizes he shouldn’t have, and that’s when I do get worried. Not just because it’s dangerous, but because if it has something to do with me, he starts acting awkward no matter how hard he hides it. The worst part is sometimes it just turns out to be over the stupidest things.”

Jisung frowns. “Like what?”

“You know how it’s practically impossible to surprise Felix? I used to try to surprise him with gifts or food, but every time he’d start to get super awkward around me. Turns out he would accidentally discover whatever surprise I was trying to plan, and he was trying his best to pretend he didn’t know what I was planning.”

“How did you find out though?”

“I ended up confronting him about it,” Seungmin admits. “I was convinced he wanted to break up with me, but as it turned out, he’d been so stressed about not wanting to ruin the effort I’d put into surprising him that he hadn’t realized I’d noticed anything was off about him. It’s not like everything went back to normal immediately afterwards, but I think it’s something that’s helped our relationship in the long run, since it’s made us more aware of how we affect each other. That’s why it’s fine if you feel uncomfortable that something’s changed about your relationship with Minho, but if it really is bothering you that much, it’s worth taking a chance and talking about it rather than wait for him to come to you. He might not even realize that he’s acting any different, and letting these negative emotions build up will only hurt your relationship in the long run.”

Jisung nods, and for the first time all week, he feels better about the entire ordeal. “Thanks, Seungmin. I’m glad I have a friend like you.”

Seungmin grins back. “I’m just glad to help. Now stop worrying. You’ve done some pretty amazing things these past few weeks, so cheer up. You should be celebrating instead of moping around all day.”

That brings a smile to Jisung’s face. He realizes Seungmin is right. His friends have come all this way to celebrate what they’ve accomplished so far, and even Minho seems to have taken the first step towards solving his inner turmoil. He’ll have plenty of chances to talk to Minho later, but for now, he’s going to focus back on enjoying the present.


	23. Secrets Revealed

Once Changbin and Jeongin finally arrive, the group is quick to decide where to eat. Almost predictably, Jeongin suggests DayDream, the restaurant he loves so much, and everyone unanimously agrees as a way to celebrate Jeongin’s success this past week. They have to wait a few more minutes before Hyunjin and Minho finally return from their talk, but it doesn’t take long for everyone to gather their things and head out.

Talking with Seungmin had cleared his head, but Minho had looked so relaxed after talking it out with Hyunjin that Jisung felt awkward trying to talk to him afterwards. It’s the happiest he’s seen Minho look all week, and Jisung decides he’s willing to wait for a better time to ask why Minho had closed himself off to Jisung.

Instead, on the way there, Jisung hangs back in the group with Felix. It’s why, when they finally arrive at the small restaurant, Jisung’s the only one who notices Felix pause slightly as they walk inside. As Felix crinkles his nose, Jisung asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just… it smells nice here, but it reminds of something that I can’t recall right now,” Felix mutters, shaking his head. “I’m probably just starving, that’s why.”

Jisung hums in agreement. If Felix notices his hesitation, he doesn’t say anything, and Jisung doesn’t elaborate. Jisung’s not sure why Felix seems to think DayDream smells familiar, but Jisung is well aware of what the restaurant smells like to him.

It smells like his old home.

Jisung is distracted by the sight of Minji coming to greet them all with a warm smile.

Minji exclaims, “Jeongin! It’s been so long since you came to visit!”

“Sorry! I’ve been busy with work!” Jeongin exclaims sheepishly, but even Jisung can see that the younger is visibly more relaxed upon entering the restaurant. Not that he can blame Jeongin. There’s something homey and warm about DayDream, like the place has been infused with the love and care that must have gone towards opening it.

They help Minji push together some tables, and Jisung sits down across from Minho at one end. He smiles a little awkwardly at Minho, but his attention is distracted by the others as everyone starts discussing what they want to eat.

Jisung decides to go with nasi goreng. It’s something he hasn’t had in a while, at least, that’s the reason Jisung tells himself.

It’s totally not because this week has brought out too many memories of home, and it’s definitely not because he’s just slightly curious as to how DayDream’s cooking will compare to his mother’s signature dish.

He’s so lost in thought that Jisung completely zones out of the conversation as they wait for their food. Before he knows it, Minji appears out of nowhere, making him jump in his seat.

“Here’s your food,” Minji says, smiling warmly at Jisung as she sets down a few dishes in front of him. “I hope you like it. The boss looked like he had a lot of fun preparing it.”

“Thanks,” Jisung grins back. “I can’t wait to try it.”

Jisung digs in. Immediately, a wave of nostalgia floods his senses. He’d been expecting it; the flavors, the smells, even the textures of the food really do remind him of his mom’s cooking. So immersed in his food, when Jisung finally looks up at the sound of someone calling his name, he almost expects to see his mom sitting across from him, smiling as she tells him to take his time eating.

Instead, it’s Minho sitting across from him. For maybe the first time this week, Minho looks at Jisung with a genuine smile. “You really like the food here, don’t you, Jisung?”

Jisung doesn’t know what comes over him.

Tears suddenly well up in his eyes, and when he blinks, he can feel the hot tears spilling down his cheeks. Minho looks shocked, and from the way the entire table falls silent, Jisung knows Minho’s not the only one who has noticed. Jisung tries to focus back on his food, but with each bite, the memories keep coming, until he’s barely aware that he’s this close to letting out a choked sob.

In the numbing silence, Jisung feels someone gently tug on his hand, and Jisung numbly obeys, getting up and following the firm but comforting pressure around his hand. He hears Minji’s voice quietly directing them through a couple of doors, until finally, Jisung steps out into an alleyway, a cool wind brushing against his tear-stained cheeks.

When Jisung looks up, Minho’s holding out a handkerchief, which Jisung takes gratefully. As Jisung busily tries to wipe away his tears and blow his nose, Minho says, “Jisung, I’m sorry. I should’ve apologized to you properly, but—”

Jisung holds a hand up to stop Minho. When he finally feels like he has his emotions back under control, Jisung says, “Minho, it’s fine. I’m not crying because of you.”

“Oh.” An extremely awkward look crosses Minho’s face. “Sorry, I thought—”

“It’s okay, I’m sorry for worrying you,” Jisung says, offering Minho a meek smile. “I just got a little lost in my memories, but I think what really did it for me was seeing you and realizing that things between us might be okay again.”

Minho’s expression darkens. He fixes his eyes on the ground before taking a deep breath. When he looks up at Jisung again, the clarity is back in his eyes as he says in a gentle tone, “Jisung, I really sorry for how I’ve been acting this week. I realize now I must have left you with the wrong impression of how I felt.”

“It’s okay. I know you’re not the kind of person to judge someone for being related to a villain, especially after what you went through.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did…”

“I won’t disagree with that,” Jisung says. “For a moment, you really made me think you hated me or something.”

“I would never hate you, Jisung,” Minho says with a fond smile that makes Jisung’s heart skip a beat. “You saved my life after all.”

“That’s what you always say,” Jisung pouts. “You make it sound like if I hadn’t saved you, you wouldn’t like me at all.”

“Well, it’s true. If you hadn’t saved me, we wouldn’t have met,” Minho replies. “I’d still be a villain somewhere, suffering and alone. It’s all thanks to you, Jisung, that I can even have fun like this now.”

“There you go again.” Jisung shakes his head. “You’re still acting like you’re the only one whose life changed for the better since we met. I’m happy we met too you know. I like hanging out with you, Minho. It’s comfortable.”

The smile Minho gives Jisung is surprisingly warm. He leans back against the wall and laughs, “I really can’t win against you, Jisung. You’re too nice to me.”

The look in Minho’s eyes tells Jisung that he has more to say. Jisung waits quietly for Minho to gather his thoughts until Minho finally sighs.

“Jisung, I think I owe you an explanation. About why I behaved the way I did.”

Jisung nods, his breath catching in his throat in anticipation.

“When you told us about your brother, this might sound pretentious, but I was really proud of you,” Minho says with a shaky breath. “You knew that revealing you were related to villains might change how people look at you, but you trusted us and decided to prioritize your duty as a hero over your personal feelings. That was a brave thing to do, Jisung, and I really respect you for that.”

“Then why did you run away and close yourself off from me?” Jisung asks softly.

Minho hangs his head. “It wasn’t the greatest reaction on my part, and I apologize again for that, but I promise, it wasn’t because of you. You know how I said I wouldn’t pry into your secrets because I have my own, right? The truth is, I didn’t try to investigate other people’s secrets because I was so scared of people learning mine, and I didn’t realize how much I’d let that fear control me until last week. We both heard what Jaebum said, but unlike me, you took his words and found the strength to let yourself be vulnerable because you knew it was the right thing to do.

“Seeing you do that, it made me realize how much of a coward I’ve been. That’s why I ran away from the situation. I felt like I didn’t have the right to be there with you guys, not when I was the one who’d failed to trust any of you.”

“Minho…” Jisung hesitates for a moment before he reaches out and gently rubs Minho on the shoulder. “Having secrets doesn’t make you a coward, you know. That’s not why I revealed to you guys the truth about my father and brother.”

“I know, but it doesn’t change the fact that these secrets of mine have been causing problems, not just for me, but for the people around me as well,” Minho replies, glancing up at Jisung. “It’s part of why I finally found the courage to talk to Hyunjin today. You’ve been nothing but kind to me Jisung, even after how horribly I reacted to the news about your brother, and even though I’d probably hurt you, you were still willing to put your feelings aside to stick to your beliefs and stand up for me against your own friends. It made me realize that if I’m going to be a hero who can proudly stand by your side, I can’t keep running from my fears any longer.”

Minho takes a deep breath. His hands are shaking slightly as he continues, “That’s why, I want to share this with you now, Jisung, before I tell anyone else. Talking about it with Hyunjin gave me the push I needed, and you’re the one who gave me the courage to face my fears, and I want to repay that trust.”

Jisung nods gently, reaching out to squeeze Minho’s shaking hands supportively. It earns him a small smile from Minho.

When Minho finally composes himself, he suddenly asks, “The day Chan brought you to visit BamBam, you talked with him about BTS, right?”

Jisung nods, not sure where Minho’s going with this.

“And now that you’ve heard Jaebum’s side of the story…” Minho bites his lip. “I guess, I just wanted to ask, what do you think of them now?”

Jisung gulps. He doesn’t know why Minho is asking, but one look at his eyes is enough to show that he’s serious. Jisung takes a breath to collect his thoughts.

“I can’t say I have a solid opinion of them yet. I wasn’t in Seoul when they were active, and even if it may have been against their own will, they still ended up hurting a lot of people,” Jisung answers. “But from what Jaebum said, it was clear to me even heroes really used to look up to them, so deep down, I don’t know if I’d call them evil either. I’d be a hypocrite if I did, you know. My brother’s probably killed just as many people under my father’s orders, and still, I’m clinging onto the hope that my mom was right in saying that Younghyun would never become someone who’d willingly kill another person.”

Minho takes it all in with a solemn expression. Quietly, he asks, “So if you met someone who used to be in BTS…?”

“Then I’ll treat them as the person they are now and make my judgment from there,” Jisung replies. “If they weren’t involved with the crimes committed by the leaders, it wouldn’t be right to condemn them just because they were once associated with the organization itself, right?”

“And if they’ve done some bad things?”

Jisung falters. There’s something about how heavy Minho’s tone is that makes Jisung scared to answer, as if one wrong word might topple Minho’s entire mental state.

“Minho, I don’t know, why are you…”

Suddenly, as unease flashes across Minho’s face, everything falls into place. Jisung’s breath catches in his throat.

“You used to be part of BTS.”

The bitter smile on Minho’s face is more than enough to answer Jisung’s statement.

“Surprise?” Minho laughs mirthlessly. He shakes his head, letting his bangs fall over his eyes. “But yes, that’s my secret. I was a member of BTS almost all through high school, and when they started killing people indiscriminately, instead of doing something to understand why the people I’d looked up to had turned evil, or working to protect innocent people from their attacks, I cut ties and did everything I could to erase any evidence of my involvement with BTS.”

Minho breathes out shakily. “That’s what I meant by running away from my secrets I guess. I was so desperate to protect my new life as a hero that after the Kang Mafia Raid, when I heard that news that RM had killed his friends and fellow leaders, I couldn’t even feel sad that the people who’d helped save my life were now gone. Even when I committed myself to taking down RM, it wasn’t out of any heroism. I did want to save people, but even more than that, I did it because it was the only way for me to cut any ties I had with BTS once and for all.”

Minho’s eyes haven’t left the ground the entire time he was talking. Jisung’s head is whirling with thoughts, when Jisung suddenly recalls a conversation from weeks before. Slowly, he says, “That’s why Chaeryeong said you looked like you were about to cry when you defeated RM.”

Minho lets out a small snort. “Wow, I’d almost forgotten about that.”

“I haven’t,” Jisung says quietly. Minho glances up in surprise. Jisung still hasn’t let go of Minho’s hands, and he takes this chance to squeeze them a little tighter. “Minho, you’re making this sound like your decision was cold-hearted, but if Chaeryeong was right, then I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. You’re a good person, Minho. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have felt so conflicted about taking down someone you once looked up to, and it wouldn’t be something that still troubles you, right? I don’t know why you joined BTS, and I still don’t know enough about them, but I believe in the person you are, Minho, and I’m glad you were willing to trust me with this secret.”

Minho looks lost for words as he stares back at Jisung with wide eyes. A gentle wind picks up around them, as Minho slowly looks upwards, trying to keep his eyes wide open. It takes a moment, but Jisung realizes what Minho’s doing.

“Are you crying?” Jisung quietly asks.

“No,” Minho forces out. “My eyes are just tired, that’s all.”

“Really, because it looks like—”

The wind suddenly picks up in speed, and Jisung can’t help but laugh when he realizes what’s going on. He tugs at Minho’s hands again and says, “Minho, your quirk’s going crazy. Are you really that happy?”

Minho makes a strange noise in response. The wind dies down again, and Minho’s voice echoes into the ensuing silence. “Is it weird to feel this relieved just from hearing you say you still believe in me?”

“Of course not,” Jisung reassures him with a smile. “It was scary for me too, you know, telling you guys about my brother, but the relief I felt when Chan and Changbin gave me that hug afterwards, it made everything worth it.”

Minho finally looks down at Jisung with eyes still glistening with tears. In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, Jisung teases, “You know, I never got a hug from you, and you happen to look like you need one—”

Minho latches onto Jisung immediately, wrapping the smaller hero into a tight hug. It draws out a light laugh from Jisung, who pats Minho comfortingly on the back. He says quietly, “Thank you for trusting me, Minho. I know that must have been scary to talk about.”

Minho huddles a little closer to Jisung, rubbing his head against Jisung’s shoulder like a cat in a poor attempt to shake away his remaining tears. When he’s done, he finally looks up and manages a small smile in return. “No, Jisung, thank you for listening. I’m so grateful to have you as a friend.”

Jisung is about to reply when the backdoor suddenly creaks open, startling them both. Jisung immediately breaks away as Minho pulls up his face mask. Both of them stare stiffly at the person in the doorway who is similarly frozen in place. The man’s wearing a cap, which casts his entire face into shadow and hides it from view. After a few moments of silence, the man coughs awkwardly. “Um, sorry to interrupt. I… well Minji said someone started crying because of my food so I guess I wanted to ask if you’re okay.”

“Y-yeah,” Jisung stammers, before his brain fully registers the man’s words. “Wait, your food? Are you the owner?”

The man nods tartly. “Well, if you’re okay, then—”

“Wait,” Jisung blurts out. He doesn’t know what comes over him, but suddenly, he hears himself say, “I know this is a lot to ask, but do you think you could teach me how to cook?”

The owner gives a start. He fixes his cap, pushing it a little further over his eyes as he says, “Well, technically I am running a restaurant, so I don’t know if I should be teaching a customer my recipes.”

Jisung’s head droops slightly, even if he had expected that response, but his hopes quickly rise up again when the owner continues hesitantly, “Though if you have a good reason for asking, I might consider it.”

“Right,” Jisung says. “I guess, it’s not much of a reason, but the food you make here really reminds me of my mom’s cooking.”

It’s faint, but Jisung swears he can see a slight smile creep onto the owner’s face. The man scratches his head and quietly repeats, “So it tastes like your mom’s cooking…”

“Yeah, so I was hoping you could teach me how to make something. Even if it’s just something simple, I’d really appreciate it,” Jisung says.

The owner seems to consider it for a moment before he replies, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but shouldn’t you be asking your mother to teach you something like this? I’m sure she’d be happier that you learned from her instead from a complete stranger.”

Jisung gulps. He’s glad at least he’s got Minho by his side as a comforting presence. Quietly, Jisung admits, “I’d love to, but unfortunately, my mom passed away a few years ago.”

There’s a long silence that follows Jisung’s quiet statement. He doesn’t know why he’s admitting this small part of himself to a stranger. Ever since he’d moved to Seoul, family’s the one topic Jisung had always been careful to not say a word about, but perhaps it’s the combination of everything that’s happened this past week. From finally revealing the truth about his father and brother to his friends, to the overwhelming nostalgia that came with eating this restaurant’s food, Jisung’s secrets are slowly tumbling out one by one, but surprisingly, with each one, it’s like a weight he hadn’t known he was carrying lifts from his shoulders. It’s as freeing as it is scary, and Jisung’s grateful when he feels Minho reach out and squeeze his hand. The pressure keeps him grounded in the present, reminding him of the friends he’s made, the friends he knows will always have his back.

Jisung can’t see the expression on the owner’s face, as he shifts his cap again. When the owner speaks again, it’s full of an emotion Jisung can’t quite place. “Well, it’s not much, but I’d be happy to teach you a dish or two then. Maybe not anytime soon, but if you’re okay with waiting a few weeks…?”

“Of course!” Jisung exclaims. “I already appreciate that you’d even consider it, so I’m more than happy to wait for as long as it takes. I'll probably be coming here to eat for a long time anyways.”

“It’d be nice if that could be true,” the owner mutters, seemingly to himself, but in the empty alleyway, his words echo loudly enough for Jisung to hear.

Jisung frowns. He’s not sure if he heard the owner right, and the man doesn’t elaborate. Jisung can see the owner smile at him before saying, “Well, I’m going to head back to work then. Do you guys want to come back in? If not, you’ll have to go back in through the front door.”

Jisung and Minho glance at each other before nodding and hurrying inside after the owner, who quickly bids them goodbye at the kitchen. Jisung’s so excited about the prospect of learning how to cook that he almost forgets what Minho had just told him.

“Wait, Minho,” Jisung says, right before they step out of the dimly lit hallway. “About what you just told me… Are you planning on telling the others?”

“Not today. Today’s been stressful enough,” Minho says, shaking his head. A hopeful look crosses his face when he continues, “But, when I do tell them, do you mind being there with me? I don’t think I can do that on my own again.”

His words bring out a soft smile on Jisung’s face.

“I’ll be by your side, Minho,” Jisung grins. “No matter what happens, you’ll always have me.”


	24. Daydreams and Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don’t know if anyone’s actually waiting for this update, but i finally did it! i’m sorry it took so long, but i’ve finally made the changes i felt were necessary for this story, so hopefully i’ll get back to updating regularly again (knowing me, it might still be monthly ish). 
> 
> surprisingly, or perhaps luckily, there weren't too many chapters i needed to edit, but while the overall story’s mostly the same, i ultimately had to change a part of minho’s character arc and especially chan’s character arc. if you’re starting from here and just want to reread the parts that have changed, the main ones are 8-9 and 17-18, but for those who don’t want to, the main structural changes that you’ll probably need to know are that felix, hyunjin, seungmin, and jeongin are all now part of the same hero agency Dawn, chan and minho’s relationship is a bit more fleshed out, and chan’s is single (his emotional support friend in chapters 17-18 is instead Sana, but they’re just friends (Chan/Sana best friend agenda let’s go :D)). i thought a lot about what i should do in terms of his romance, debated breaking up the whole mess with hyunjin, changbin and jeongin just to make chan part of a ship, but because that probably still would’ve been messy and felt like a waste of the plans i had for binhyunin (is that even a ship name), i ultimately decided chan’s gonna be single and happy. self-love’s important and the character chan’s gonna have to learn that lesson first, so i’m sorry if there’s anyone who was hoping to see him end up with someone else.
> 
> building off of that, this is something i probably should’ve also added in the beginning, but if you’ve read up to this point, you’ve probably realized this isn’t romance heavy. i got too invested in the plot, and i’m really bad at balancing story elements, so i guess i’d like to apologize to anyone who was hoping to see the various ships being developed more prominently in the story. for the future chapters, i’m just going to keep focusing on developing minsung (slowly, sorry!). seunglix is still around since they’re an established relationship, but i don’t think there’s enough story (or brainpower on my part) left to fully develop what i wanted to happen between hyunjin, changbin, and jeongin, so unfortunately, there’s a high chance that it’s probably going to be a plot line i’m not going to fully resolve. i have a basic outline of what will happen for the rest of the story, so maybe i’ll be able to fit it in, but i guess this is just a heads up to not expect too much out of it. i may or may not make a new side story fic focusing on that relationship, just to do it justice, but it’s definitely not going to happen until i finish this story first, so i apologize again if the romance part was what you were hoping to see more of.
> 
> thank you again for being patient with me and reading up until here, and i hope you’ll continue to enjoy reading the rest of the story!

Jisung wakes up to the sound of his phone ringing. He blearily grabs his phone and glares at the bright screen, until he realizes it’s not an alarm but Felix calling him at the ungodly hour of 4:04 am.

“Hello?” Jisung asks wearily as he picks up the phone. “What’s up?”

“Sorry, Jisung, I know you were probably sleeping, but it was important to me that you heard this now.”

Jisung sits up in bed. He’s somewhat more alert now at the sound of the urgency in Felix’s voice. Jisung asks, “Is everything okay?”

“Technically speaking, yes,” Felix replies. “I was doing some more research about Wonderland after dinner, and I finally made a breakthrough. I’ll probably message Chan after this and ask him to set up a meeting later today so we can go through the details.”

“Well, explains why you’re still not in bed,” Jisung yawns, shaking his head to clear his mind. “Why did you feel the need to call me though?”

Felix goes silent on the other end of a line. It’s not rare for Felix to go quiet in the middle of conversation. Even without his quirk, he’s the kind of person who always has lots of thoughts inside his head, and Jisung rubs his drowsy eyes as he waits for Felix to organize his thoughts.

“Jisung, promise me you’ll stay calm after you hear what I say.”

Jisung’s eyes narrow. “Felix, what’s wrong?”

“Jisung, please. Just promise me you’ll stay calm and at least wait till we have a group meeting and decide what to do.”

Jisung runs a hand through his hair. He doesn’t know what’s got Felix this concerned, but he’s never had a reason to not trust Felix either.

“Fine, I promise,” Jisung says. “Now what did you find out?”

“It’s about your brother. I found him, Jisung. I know where he is.”

Jisung’s mind goes completely blank as a buzzing fills his ears. It takes his all to remain calm, as he hears himself ask, “Where is he?”

The answer makes his head spin.

Jisung doesn’t remember much about what happens next. Somehow, he gets off the phone with Felix, and sometime later, his phone pings again with a message from Chan, telling him about the meeting they would have at noon, to discuss the new information that Felix had discovered. Chan follows up with another message, asking if Jisung’s okay, if he wants to talk.

Jisung doesn’t reply.

He turns his phone off and lays back down on his bed, but try as he might, Jisung can’t fall asleep. He lays there in the darkness of his bedroom, drowning in the silence, until the first light in the morning sky seeps through his curtains and illuminates the darkness with a warm orange glow.

A few hours later, when Jisung knocks on Minho’s door so they can head to the office together, the first thing Minho says is, “Wow, you look miserable.”

“It’s that obvious, huh?” Jisung laughs mirthlessly. “Couldn’t sleep after I got Chan’s text. I blame him for texting us so late.”

Which reminds Jisung that he hasn’t turned his phone back on. Before he can go do that, Minho locks his front door and lightly pats Jisung on the back. He says, “Come on, we’ve still got time. Let’s go get some coffee. My treat.”

“Really?” Jisung exclaims, his mood brightening incredibly.

“Yep,” Minho replies. “I could use the caffeine boost myself.”

It’s then that Jisung realizes that Minho looks just as tired as Jisung feels. Minho’s got dark bags under his eyes, and he’s dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants, as if he hadn’t had the energy to dress up like usual. As they head out, Jisung asks, “You didn’t get much sleep either then?”

Minho smiles meekly in response. “I was thinking about what to say to others, you know, about my secret. I’m not as scared to tell them anymore, but I can’t wing it like I did with you. I trust them all, obviously, but I’m still worried about…”

“You’re worried how Chan will react,” Jisung finishes for Minho, who nods grimly.

They walk in silence for a while, as Jisung ponders that thought. Now that he and Minho have made up, the silence between them has started to feel natural again, more comfortable, but at the same time, something is different.

It’s a good kind of different, Jisung thinks. Now that they’ve bared their souls to each other, there’s a sense of trust that seems to have developed between them, an unspoken reassurance that they’ll always have each other’s back. Even now, after spending an entire night drowning in the numbness of the truth that Felix had told him, Jisung feels a little of it subside just by being next to Minho, who similarly starts to look a little more alive the longer they walk together.

Jisung doesn’t know what this means for their relationship, but there’s one thing Jisung’s sure of, when they walk into the cafe and sit down to enjoy their drinks.

It’s the way he catches Minho smiling at him when Jisung plasters himself to the cake counter to drool over the cheesecake, the ghost of Minho’s touch when Jisung embarrassedly tries to stop Minho from handing money to the cashier to buy him cheesecake too. It’s the way his chest blooms with an indescribable warmth at the sight of Minho enjoying his first sip of coffee, the giggles that escape him when Minho scrunches up his face upon realizing it’s too bitter.

Jisung likes spending time with Minho, and more than anything, he hopes Minho will be in his life for a long time.

He can only hope that Minho feels the same.

* * *

In the meeting room, Felix is setting up the projector while chatting to Chan when Jisung and Minho walk in. The look Felix gives him reminds Jisung of exactly why he hadn’t been able to sleep, and any lingering contentment from his morning breakfast with Minho begins to fade away.

Jisung settles into his seat, arms crossed tightly across his chest. He knows the meeting is important, but without meaning to, he zones out as Chan thanks everyone for coming and turns to Felix.

“So, what were you able to find out about Wonderland?”

“A lot, actually, so I hope you don’t mind if I start from the beginning,” Felix says, fidgeting slightly with the notes in front of him. Jisung catches Felix glance towards him again, but he frowns when Felix’s eyes shift towards Jeongin, the concern in his eyes growing stronger. “When we were fighting Youngjae, I noticed a small food stain on his shirt, and there was a familiar smell on him, so when I tried recalling where I’d smelled something like that before, well… I realized he smelled a little like you, Jeongin. More specifically, he smelled of the food from the restaurant we went to yesterday.”

“DayDream? Was he a customer there?” Jeongin repeats, forming a pout. “That sucks. First Chaeryeong, now Youngjae…”

“Chaeryeong was also a regular there, right?” Felix says. When Jeongin nods, Felix’s expression turns grim as he fiddles with the computer in front of him. “Well, I thought it might’ve just been a coincidence at first. It’s a small, unknown restaurant with good food, so I wouldn’t be surprised if villains were more likely to visit places like that, where they’re less likely to be recognized.”

“But you looked into it anyways, right?” Minho smiles.

“Of course. My hero name isn’t Awaken, the all-knowing hero for nothing,” Felix grins, though he quickly recomposes himself. “Anyways, I couldn’t find any evidence of Youngjae and Chaeryeong ever interacting at DayDream, but I did find something interesting.”

Felix pulls up a photo of a familiar face with vibrant purple hair. “Kim Minji. She was really stealthy for a waitress, and Jeongin mentioned she used to be a hero, so I looked into it, just out of curiosity. Turns out, she used to be a hero who went by the name JiU.”

Chan’s eyes widen in recognition. “Wait, that’s why she looked familiar! I’ve worked with her before.”

“Really? When?” Jeongin speaks up, looking over at Chan in interest.

Chan doesn’t share Jeongin’s excitement. Chan’s eyes flit briefly towards Jisung before he slowly replies, “The Kang Mafia Raid. She was actually the hero who defeated Sweet Chaos and brought him in, but in the end, she didn’t want her involvement in his arrest to be divulged to the press and quit working as a hero pretty soon after that.”

Seungmin’s eyes narrow at the information. “Why would she do that? Working on such a high profile mission would’ve made her a successful hero, right? I mean, it’s a large part of why you became so popular after all, Chan.”

“You’re not wrong,” Chan says, shaking his head, “but I don’t think anyone was surprised when she quit. You see, after she brought in Sweet Chaos, the first thing she did was argue for his innocence.”

“What, why?” Jisung asks, his heart leaping to his throat. He doesn’t dare to hope, but the look in Chan’s eyes suggests that maybe, just this once, Jisung’s justified in believing in his brother’s innocence.

“You actually reminded me, Jisung, when you told us about your father’s quirk,” Chan replies. “I didn’t make the connection until now, but JiU said something similar when she was making her case for Sweet Chaos. She claimed that the horrific crimes Sweet Chaos had done weren’t out of his free will, that the leader of the Kang Mafia had controlled him somehow.”

“What made her think that?” Felix asks, his eyes honed in on Chan in the way he usually does when he’s busy absorbing new information.

“JiU’s quirk, I believe it’s called Nightmare? It allows her to create illusions of people’s fears,” Chan explains, looking at Felix for confirmation. When Felix nods, Chan continues, “Apparently, when she used her quirk in her fight against Sweet Chaos, it summoned forth an illusion of the leader of the Kang Mafia.”

Felix frowns. “So Sweet Chao’s greatest fear was…”

“His own father,” Chan finishes. “She proved it later by using her quirk on Sweet Chaos in front of us, so I don’t have any doubt that that’s the truth, but just proving Sweet Chaos feared his father didn’t absolve him of the guilt of his crimes. We had no proof of what his father’s quirk actually was, and there was already so much evidence of Sweet Chaos’s crimes that once he pleaded guilty in court, that was pretty much it. He got a life sentence, and with the chaos of BTS disbanding and RM ramping up his villainous activities, I guess no one was surprised when JiU gave up being a hero after that.”

Chan shakes his head, sighing, “It’s a shame she did. There’s a hero agency that I think would really enjoy having a hero like her on their team.”

Meanwhile, Jeongin has been watching Felix. He carefully asks, “Why are you bringing her up though? Do you think she can help us find Sweet Chaos again?”

“I’m afraid that’s not the reason,” Felix says heavily. He’s watching Jeongin with a thoughtful look, like he’s deliberating on the right words to use, before he sighs and moves onto the next slide.

“I was looking back at the reports on Sweet Chaos’s escape. The heroes guarding him reported that they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of vicious bees and knocked out, so the obvious conclusion was that the culprit was a villain with a bug quirk. The investigation didn’t get much further than that, since there was so much else going on at the time, but after doing some digging myself, I realized there was something strange.”

Felix pulls out a stack of papers, on which is printed a lengthy table of what seems to be names. “Just about everyone I looked into with a quirk like that had an alibi during Sweet Chaos’ escape. It stumped me for a while, until I came across a very important piece of information: one of the heroes escorting Sweet Chaos had a phobia of bees.”

Felix lets the information stew in the silence, until it’s obvious what Felix is trying to imply.

“You’re saying JiU was the one who attacked and helped Sweet Chaos escape,” Changbin deduces, his expression growing sterner.

As Felix nods, Jeongin speaks up, his voice unsteady.

“That… That could just be a coincidence, right?”

“It could be,” Felix says, but his expression seems to say otherwise as he continues, “but then there’s the parasite. From what I can tell, it’s made up of three main components. Obviously, the first part is Sweet Chaos’ quirk, Quirk Takeover, which is how the parasite is able to control people’s quirks.

“The second part is its ability to go from a serum form to a parasite. That requires a quirk that can control the serum from inside a person’s body, and if I had to guess, that’s where Chaeryeong’s quirk comes in. Her ability to manipulate her blood into any shape is probably what gives the Quirk Takeover Serum the ability to pass through a person’s bloodstream and transform into its parasite form. Not only that, it also explains why the serum didn’t affect Hongjoong or Youngjae, even though they had to touch it to pass it on to other people. If I’m not wrong…”

Felix pulls up a chart, showing a list of student names from JYP High, complete with information on their quirks, basic healthy information, and blood types. “Chaeryeong can’t control the blood of people with the same blood type as her. I believe Jisung, you experienced that yourself in your fight against her, and I think that same principle applies to the serum. Chaeryeong, Hongjoong and Youngjae are all type B, and of the group of students I interviewed who had encountered Youngjae when he first arrived at JYP High, the students with type B blood were the only ones who hadn’t lost control by the time we arrived, so I think we can safely say that the Quirk Takeover Serum is only ineffective on those with blood type B.”

Hyunjin shares a glance with Jisung, looking almost relieved that neither of them have to worry about losing control of their quirks. Jeongin, however, remains focused on Felix as he asks, “What’s the third part then?”

“The third part,” Felix says, shaking the parasite in the jar, “is fear.”

“Fear?”

Felix nods.

“These things all have one thing in common. They react to external threats, but especially when the person they’ve infected experiences fear. It’s pretty smart if you ask me. People don’t expect to lose control of their quirks, so when it first happens, it’s normal to react with alarm or distress, which only exacerbates the parasite’s effects, and the situation just escalates from there. People are already on edge because of what happened at JYP High, and when you have a whole city living in fear of losing control of their quirk with a drug that controls people’s quirks in reaction to fear…”

Felix lets the implications of his statement sink in. Chan looks grim as he sums up, “Basically, you’re saying we’re headed for a huge disaster.”

“More or less,” Felix shrugs, like the idea of an entire city of people losing control and wrecking havoc isn’t the worst thing he’s ever imagined.

As a gloom falls over the group, Jisung notices that Jeongin’s expression has only soured as he stares at Felix. The fact that Felix has glossed over who might’ve provided the element of fear to the Quirk Takeover Serum hasn’t been lost on them, and Jeongin scowls, “You think Minji’s part of this.”

“Jeongin, I know you’re close to her, but I’m going to need you to put aside your personal feelings for this,” Felix says in a cautious tone, his eyes not meeting Jeongin’s.

“No, I don’t see why I should,” Jeongin snaps, his hands curling into fists. “I trust your facts, Felix, but I also know Minji’s a good person. She would never want to hurt people.”

“You thought Chaeryeong was a good person too, remember? And Youngjae was once one of the nicest heroes this city had ever known,” Felix counters, his deep voice rumbling through the air, “and yet they still became villains and hurt people. I know this is going to be hard for you to accept, Jeongin, but sometimes, people just aren’t who they seem to be.”

Jeongin clenches his jaw tight. In his anger, patches of fur have sprouted along Jeongin’s skin, each hair standing on end, and his teeth have sharpened into fangs.

It’s been a while since Jisung’s seen Jeongin lose control like this, when his emotions become so much that he starts to give into the animalistic instincts of his quirk. The last time it happened, they had been in high school, and Jeongin had nearly ripped out the throats of some bullies he’d caught pushing around an underclassman.

For a moment, Jisung wonders if Jeongin will lose control of his emotions again, when Hyunjin suddenly reaches out and runs a finger down Jeongin’s spine. Immediately, Jeongin’s entire body shivers, and he snaps out of his anger like someone waking from a dream, his skin returning to normal as his bared fangs retract.

Hyunjin rubs his thumb gently against the top of Jeongin’s hand as Jeongin slumps back into his seat, the anger sapped out of him. Hyunjin says softly, “I understand why you’re angry, Jeongin, but we should hear what Felix has to say first. You know he wouldn’t accuse someone without good reason, right?”

Jeongin sinks lower into his seat, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. He huffs, “I know, I’m sorry for losing my temper. You have evidence, don’t you? What is it?”

“It’s not concrete evidence, but I definitely found something pretty damning,” Felix says, glancing at Hyunjin gratefully, before his eyes move onto Jisung.

Jisung realizes this is it.

The moment of truth that he’s been dreading all morning.

Felix clicks a button on his computer, and a picture flashes up onto the screen.

“This is the owner right, Jeongin?”

Jisung feels his heart sink.

It’s a slightly blurred security camera photo of the front of DayDream. Captured within it is the owner, frozen mid-wave at a child and his family at the edge of the picture, wearing the same hat and apron Jisung had seen him in the other day. This time however, his face is in full view, illuminated by a ray of sunshine, a familiar warm smile on his face and his eyes shining brightly despite the low resolution photo.

Jeongin doesn’t seem to notice the icy atmosphere that’s fallen over the room. His scowl deepens, like he instinctively dislikes that the owner’s been brought up in the context of this conversation, as he nods, “Yeah, that’s him. Are you going to say he has some kind of connection to Sweet Chaos as well? Because that’s impossible, he’s the nicest person ever. He’d never get involved with a villain.”

“Do you know his name?” Felix says calmly. Jeongin falters, and he hesitantly shakes his head. Felix sighs and pulls up another photo. It’s of the same person, but this time, the photo is a mugshot of the man, whose eyes are glassy and cold.

“This man’s name is Kang Younghyun, and he’s not just related to Sweet Chaos. He _is_ Sweet Chaos,” Felix says.

Felix’s eyes remains steady on Jeongin, whose face is frozen in shock. His entire body rooted in his seat as his eyes drink in the pictures being projected onto the screen, until finally, Jeongin breathes out shakily, “No, that can’t be.”

“Jeongin, I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but it’s the truth. With this, I think we can confirm that JiU did in fact help Sweet Chaos escape, and there’s a high chance that DayDream is just a cover for—”

Jeongin stands up. Without a word, he pushes his chair back, and with heavy footsteps, Jeongin heads straight for the door, his eyes hidden behind his bangs and his jaw trembling.

Hyunjin’s the first to react. He chases after Jeongin, catching the younger boy in his arms just as Jeongin opens the door, and pulls Jeongin outside with him. Jisung only manages to catch a glimpse of Hyunjin hugging Jeongin tightly to his chest, before the door shuts tightly behind them, cutting off the sound of Jeongin’s sobs and leaving the room in complete and utter silence.

Felix’s eyes don’t leave the door for a long time, until Seungmin finally reaches out and gently rests his hand on Felix’s.

“He’ll be okay. He’s got Hyunjin with him,” Seungmin says, his expression heavy even as he tries to offer Felix a comforting smile. “I don’t think there’s anything you could have said differently that would’ve made this less hard for Jeongin, but it’s good that you told him now when he has people to watch over him.”

Felix sighs heavily as he squeezes Seungmin’s hand back. He glances towards Chan and quietly murmurs, “I’m sorry we caused such a scene.”

“Don’t be,” Chan says firmly. “It just means Jeongin’s got a good heart, and honestly, it’s something we can all learn from.”

He’s looking over at Minho when he says this, like he has something he wants to say, but Minho speaks up, clearly not wanting to hear it.

“So what now?” Minho asks, pointedly not looking in Chan’s direction. “Do we just go in and bring JiU and Sweet Chaos in for questioning, now that we know where they are?”

“I wish it were that simple,” Felix sighs, running a hand through his hair, “but I can’t help but be worried. We still don’t know what exactly their goals are, and they must have known I’d discover the connection between DayDream and Wonderland, especially after we went there to eat. I have a bad feeling that if we immediately go to DayDream, we’ll just be playing into their hands.”

“So you think going to DayDream would lead us to a trap,” Changbin says heavily. His attentionhas been on the door ever since Jeongin and Hyunjin had disappeared behind it, and only now has he turned his focus back on the meeting. “What else are we supposed to do then? Wait until whatever plan they have to attack the city goes into effect?”

“Not if we can help it,” Chan says decisively, glancing down at his watch. “It’s still early, but I’ll try to contact as many different hero agencies as I can, to warn them about the potential threat and what to do if they encounter citizens who’ve lost control of their quirk. How many days do you think we have before Wonderland might launch an attack, Felix?”

“Two or three, give or take,” Felix surmises. “Seungmin’s been in charge of our information on our villain network. He can probably explain better than I can.”

Seungmin nods as he flips through his notes. “Judging by the excitement amongst villains lately, I’d say Wonderland’s planning to have the villains who believe in their cause wreck havoc within the city, perhaps at the same time they try to release the drug amongst the people. It’ll be hectic, but I’ll forward a list of villains who I think will be involved to you, Chan.”

As Chan smiles in thanks, Seungmin then turns to Minho. “There has been a strange rumor going around though. These villains seem to believe that the reason behind why they need to cause chaos in the city is so that Levanter can break out from prison.”

“Wonderland’s playing them like a fiddle then,” Jisung scoffs. “How’s Minho going to break out of prison when he’s right here?”

“Yes, obviously Levanter won’t be breaking out of prison, because you were never truly a villain, Minho, but that’s exactly what I don’t understand,” Seungmin continues in a cautious tone. “The villains Wonderland’s targeting all seem convinced that Levanter was a great villain, , but if they wanted to do real damage, they could just reveal that they know Lee Know’s real identity. It would ruin 3RACHA’s reputation in an instant, so the real question is, why haven’t they done that? Why are villains so convinced that Levanter’s capable of being the leader of Wonderland after being in hiding for so long?”

Jisung has a feeling he knows the answer to Seungmin’s question. It has to do with Minho’s secret, with the fact that he once was a member of BTS, and Jisung can tell that Minho knows it too.

In the silence that follows, Jisung watches Minho carefully. There’s a somber look on Minho’s face, like he’s deliberating what he would like to say, before finally, he speaks up, his voice still quiet.

“I think I can give you the answer to that,” Minho says.

His voice shakes slightly as he speaks, and without thinking, Jisung reaches out to hold Minho’s hand beneath the table.

Minho offers him a grateful look, before he continues, “There’s something I need to tell you all, before we take on Wonderland. It has to do with why they all seem to hate me in particular, and why Hongjoong claimed that I hadn’t always wanted to be a hero, back when we talked to him. It’s also something I need you to take into consideration, Chan, when all of this is over, when you have to make a decision about what happens to me once the reason for me to be Lee Know is gone.”

Jisung clutches Minho’s hand even more tightly at that.

It hits him all at once that this time he has with Minho will inevitably come to an end. He remembers now how Minho had only agreed to become a hero again to find the people who had made his quirk go out of control, and once Wonderland is defeated, Minho won’t have a reason to be a hero any longer.

Jisung knows that the right thing to do would be for Minho to go back to prison and serve out the rest of his sentence. Even if it was something out of his control, Minho’s quirk has taken lives and hurt a lot of people, and even if they were able to clear Minho’s name and explain that Minho had never had the intention to hurt people, Jisung knows Minho will still want to take responsibility for his actions.

Even then, even if it’s selfish, Jisung wishes there was another way, another future where Minho could be let off scot free, and he could continue living life with Minho by his side for the rest of eternity. He has the feeling everyone in this room shares that sentiment too, and Jisung realizes that’s exactly why Minho’s choosing this moment to reveal his connection to BTS.

Because Minho doesn’t want them to help him, just because he’s their friend.

In a world where Minho has lost so much, where his public image and the stories that surround him are all built on a foundation of lies, this is the only place left, where Minho can still be seen for the person he truly is, and in order for that to still be true, Minho has to set his secrets free.

Minho takes a deep breath.

“It’s a long story, but if it’s okay with you, I hope you’ll give me a chance and let me explain myself until the very end. I’ll listen to anything you have to say afterwards, so can you do that for me, Chan?”

Minho looks Chan square in the eye as he speaks. Any sense of hesitation is gone, replaced with the fearless determination that Minho carries himself with when he’s at work as a hero. He knows what he wants to say now, and when Chan nods ever so slightly in return, despite the growing concern in Chan’s eyes, Minho straightens up.

“Let me start from the beginning then,” Minho says. There’s something sad about his smile, the way he’s looking at Chan like he’s preparing to say goodbye, and Jisung feels Minho hold onto his hand just a little tighter.

“This is the story of how I decided I wanted to be a hero, and it starts with a dance group I joined when I was younger, a group that went by the name of BTS.”


End file.
